For those in whom the characteristic redness appears, and who are therefore known to be liable to catch diphtheria, doctors now advise a course of protective injections similar to those which have proven so successful against typhoid fever. This protective treatment consists of three small injections, a week apart. There is no sore, as there is in smallpox vaccination, and the injections are harmless. The protection lasts for years, and perhaps even for life.
Why not have the doctor make a Schick test on your child, and if this shows the lack of protection against diphtheria have him give the three protective injections?
PERSONAL AND BEDSIDE HYGIENE.
1. (a) All discharges from the nose and mouth should be gathered in soft, clean cloths or rags or papers and destroyed by burning. (b) The patient should cover the mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, for a cough or sneeze will throw droplets of mucus to a distance of 10 or 12 feet.
2. The attendant should wear a washable gown that completely covers her clothing. It should be put on when entering the room of the patient and taken off immediately on leaving it.
3. A basin of water, together with a cake of castile soap (or where possible an antiseptic solution), should be placed in a convenient place, so that the doctor and nurse attending the patient may wash their hands whenever leaving the room, and even before touching the door handle.
4. All eating utensils that the patient uses should be washed in boiling hot water separately from other dishes and used exclusively by the patient.
5. All bedclothes and bedding should be boiled in soap and water, or they should be exposed to the sunshine. Direct sunshine kills disease germs.
6. The person attending the patient should wear a double layer of gauze or other soft thin cloth across the mouth and nose as a face mask whenever near the patient so as to prevent the droplets containing the germs coming from the patient's mouth from entering and lodging on the lining of the mouth or throat of the attendant. Always remember that even though you may not get the disease if the germs lodge in your throat they may grow there and you may carry the disease to another person who may catch it.
7. There should be but one attendant wherever possible.