CHAPTER XXXVIII
INFECTIOUS OR CONTAGIOUS DISEASES
Rules to be Observed in the Treatment of Contagious Diseases—What Isolation Means—The Contagious Sick Room—Conduct and Dress of the Nurse—Feeding the Patient and Nurse—How to Disinfect the Clothing and Linen—How to Disinfect the Urine and Feces—How to Disinfect the Hands—Disinfection of the Room Necessary—How to Disinfect the Mouth and Nose—How to Disinfect the Throat— Receptacle for the Sputum—Care of the Skin in Contagious Diseases—Convalescence After a Contagious Disease—Disinfecting the Sick Chamber—The After Treatment of a Disinfected Room— How to Disinfect the Bed Clothing and Clothes—Mumps—Epidemic Parotitis—Chicken Pox—Varicella—La Grippe— Influenza—Diphtheria—Whooping Cough—Pertussis— Measles—Koplik's Spots—Department of Health Rules in Measles—Scarlet Fever—Scarlatina—Typhoid Fever— Various Solutions—Boracic Acid Solution—Normal Salt Solution—Carron Oil—Thiersch's Solution—Solution of Bichloride of Mercury—How to Make Various Solutions.
RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN THE TREATMENT OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES
Every mother should know the elementary principles involved in the treatment of contagious diseases. They are contagious because they may be conveyed from one individual to another or because a person nursing a victim of a contagious disease may carry that disease to another person without having the disease herself. For this reason, certain rules have been established by the medical profession, which experience has taught are necessary in order to preserve the health of the community when such diseases are prevalent.
The very first rule to which the physician will direct the mother's attention, when there is a contagious disease, will be that the child must be "isolated."
What Isolation Means.—Isolation means the complete seclusion of the patient in a room by himself, so that no one will see him or come in contact with him except the physician and the nurse or mother who will tend him during the entire course of the disease. Isolation implies more than it would seem to mean. It implies that every article used during the sickness will be thoroughly disinfected before it leaves the room in which the patient himself is isolated. Mothers must always remember that every article used by the patient may carry the germs of the disease to some other member of the family or to some other individual. These articles are the clothing of the child, the bedclothes, napkins, handkerchiefs, towels, dishes, knives and spoons, rags, the various discharges—sputum, urine, and bowel passages—and, we may add to this list, flies, insects, and domestic animals. Every precaution must, therefore, be taken to safeguard any dissemination of the disease by means of these articles.
Thorough isolation also implies that the nurse shall frequently bathe and disinfect her person and her clothing, and that the sick-room itself shall be carefully dusted with a moist cloth and disinfected from time to time.
The Contagious Sick-Room.—The contagious sick-room will be prepared in exactly the same way as the ordinary sick-room which has been previously described. In addition, however, it will be safeguarded in the following manner. A wet sheet will be hung up outside the door. This sheet will be kept constantly moistened with a solution of chloride of lime. One-half pound to an ordinary house-pail of water is the strength of the solution to use. Every window must be effectively screened to prevent the ingress and egress of flies and other insects.