1893-1894 - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

APPENDIX.
23 •>
fever. On the 25111 M ,
a sister of A. S , was attacked by fever. Slie
had also been nursing her aunt. A. R attended service at the chapel during
the week ending June 27th, and drank water from this spring. On the
2d or 3d of July he was stricken down by fever. L. J also attended services
at the chapel during the same week and drank this spring water. On
the 9ih she was also sick of typhoid fever. M. L visited Mrs. S often
during her sickness and drank water from the spring. The 20lh of June found
her in bed with typhoid fever.
Let us review this evidence hurriedly.
There was a case of typhoid fever;
the infected discharges thrown out upon the ground at points from which they
could be waslied directly into the spring or quite near to it; rains to wash
these discharges into and about the spring.
Next, two young persons attending
services at tlie chapel soon after these rains, and drinking water from the
spring, were taken sick with typhoid fever. About the same time three members
of the family using water from this s-pricg were stricken with the disease,
xsext in order is a lady visitor to the house, who says she drank the water, and
she, too, had fever. Finally, the two sisters who had nursed tlieir aunt and
drank the water were the last to sicken with the disease.
The chain of evidence submitted to you to prove that drinking water infected
by typhoid discharges will produce an epidemic of this disease, I think, is complete.
A notable epidemic which I will merely mention was that which occurred
at Plymouth, Pa., in 1885, cau-ed liy the discharges from one case of this fever.
How can typhoid fever be prevented or restricted is a question of great importance
to us all, not only as individuals and families and communities, but it is
of such moment that it interests us as a State and nation. The question will
be answered by simply telling you to disinfect the discharges.
If we had pure
water, good sewers, good drainage, clean towns and clean homes, there would
be less of this disease, certainly. This cannot be so as long as the typhoid
discharges are thrown out undisinfected and the infective agent allowed to
propagate and drain into and pollute our water supply. You can see that all
efforts tending to protect ourselves, our towns and cities by supplying good
water, keeping clean homes and providing good sewers are all subservient to
the one vital point—the disinfection of the discharges. You have seen how
one case could infect a spring and cause several cases; so one case could produce
a thousand under favorable conditions, as was the case in the striking
epidemic at Plymouth, where 1,C00 were stricken and over 100 deaths occurred.
Had the discharges in each of the cases cited been thoroughly disinfected and
properly disposed of these epidemics would have been averted. Recall to
mind that each case may and can, under favorable conditions, produce an epidemic,
and then think how prevalent the disease is and how little is done
toward its prevention, and it is easy to see how liable we are to epidemics.
What are disinfectants, and how can they be used effectively? A disinfectant
is "an agent capable of destroying the effective power of infectious material."
The destruction must be thnrongh, for so long as there is vitality in the infective