Army manual of hygiene and sanitation, 1934 / [War Office].

Date:
1941
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Army manual of hygiene and sanitation, 1934 / [War Office]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/310 (page 27)
    saliva on cups, forks, spoons, etc., and may thus be conveyed Germs of disease which have left the body may live for some time in such things as fomites, food, water, dust, soil, etc., and may survive long enough to be conveyed to healthy persons. These constitute the indirect routes of infection. Fomites are any articles which are capable of absorbing or retaining infective material, such as blankets and bedding or .clothing soiled by discharges from the body. Food and water may become infected if cooks or other persons handling articles of diet are “‘ carriers,”’ or if utensils are not thoroughly cleaned. Water supplies may be contaminated from latrines -and urine soak into the soil and so reach the water. At. one time it was thought that infection could be carried the germs in droplets and particles of dust carried by the air, which is only a vehicle. Dried excreta and expectoration form dust which may blow about in the air and be breathed in or contaminate food and water supplies. Animals may act as carriers of disease germs. Rats which live in sewers and refuse heaps can carry filth and germs to human food; they can also carry plague by means of infected fleas which live on them and may be transferred to human beings. Flies are important agents in the spread of intestinal diseases such as typhoid, dysentery, cholera and diarrhea, in the number of flies is followed by outbreaks of these diseases. Flies breed in excreta and refuse, and feed on sweet things, such as sugar, jam, milk, etc., so it is easy to understand how latter is protected from such contamination. Lice are the agents by which typhus fever, relapsing fever and trench fever are transferred from sick to healthy persons, Some insects may act as intermediate hosts for certain disease germs, 7.e. the germs go through certain stages of their life in the bodies of the insect before they are transferred to man; for example, a mosquito sucks up malaria parasites in certain stages of development in the mosquito and are then When the germs from the source of infection have been