Wooden Bedsteads should be washed with a disinfecting solution and subjected to a gaseous disinfectant in order that all cracks and openings be penetrated and all insects be destroyed.
Bedding, Mattresses, Pillows, Quilts, etc., should be packed in clean sheets moistened with a five per cent solution of formalin, and then carted away to be thoroughly disinfected by steam in a special apparatus.
Sheets, Small Linen and Cotton Objects, Tablecloths, etc., should be soaked in a carbolic-acid solution and then boiled.
Rubbish, Rags, and Objects of Little Value found in an infected room are best burned.
Glassware and Chinaware should either be boiled or subjected to dry heat.
Carpets should first be subjected to a gaseous disinfectant, and then be wrapped in sheets wetted with formalin solution and sent to be steamed. Spots and stains in carpets should be thoroughly washed before being steamed, as the latter fixes the stains.
Woolen Goods and Wool are injured by being steamed, and hence may be best disinfected by formalin solutions or by formaldehyde gas.
Books are very difficult to disinfect, especially such books as were handled by the patient, on account of the difficulty of getting the disinfectant to act on every page of the book. The only way to disinfect books is to hang them up so that the leaves are all open, and then to subject them to the action of formaldehyde gas for twelve hours. Another method sometimes employed is to sprinkle a five per cent solution of formalin on every other page of the book; but this is rather a slow process.[21]
Stables need careful and thorough disinfection. All manure, hay, feed, etc., should be collected, soaked in oil, and burned. The walls, ceilings, and floors should then be washed with a strong disinfecting solution applied with a hose; all cracks are to be carefully cleaned and washed. The solution to be used is preferably lysol, creolin, or carbolic acid. After this the whole premises should be fumigated with sulphur or formaldehyde, and then the stable left open for a week to be aired and dried, after which all surfaces should be freshly and thickly kalsomined.
Food cannot be very well disinfected unless it can be subjected to boiling. When this is impossible it should be burned.