HEALTH NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 32, 9 February 1929, Page 17

HEALTH NOTES

SANITATION

PREVENTION OF NUISANCES ■ ■'.. ■ / (Contributed by the Department of ' Health.) ■ : . Prom the .earliest 'days of efforts to promote a better health,, rthe abatement of nuisances has been considered to be au essential part of such work. So much so, .that the officers appointed under'our earliest English Act dealing-with-public health, were known as inspectors of nuisances, a title which has survived until quite recently. The earlier pioneers in health work attributed most, if not all, of what we know as epidemics of infectious diseases to the existence of thpse conditions known as nuisances, insanitation in dwellings, dampness, lack, of. sunlight, overcrowd: ing, offensive accumulations of. filth and garbage, keeping of animals under insanitary conditions, emanations from offensive trade processes, impure water supplies, ■ and excessive-production of smoke. To ' a very largo.'extent this opinion survives ' to-day, and many people still think that an epidemic of diphtheria is directly.due to some one or other of such nuisances. . ' i .. To a limited: extent these early pioneers in.health work were correct in their deductions', and those insanitary conditions known as-'nuisances still maintain their position as important factors in-the production of epidemics, and in their relation to th.c standard of publics health. But in the larger know-, ledge which has been acquired-as to the.causation of these epidemic diseases, it is now. known' that .these conditions are- not the.ammediate cause of such epidemics, as they are found occasionally to occur in quite good sanitary environment. Our knowledge of the life history of the organisms giving rise to these infectious diseases provides abundant proof that they do not always emanate from accumulations of filth or bad drains.! V . - •....-:' DISEASE ORGANISMS. ...Within the- limits; of our present knowledge, we. know that infection of the human organism with, certain dis-ease-producing bacteria will, certain favourable circumstances , obtaining, produce specific infectious diseases. We know, however, that most of : these' disease-producing organ ismß' will live outside the human body, but: that to retain their viability : they require a suitable medium upon; which to feed, and a certain degree of warmth,or moisture, aridiu many, cases the absence of sunlight. ' ■'•'■■'■•'■.. : ■.-■■'' ■■■■'■ .. ; The insanitary-conditions which we know as nuisances provide- ideal surroundings for the growth of " these disease-producing -organisms, and thus we find typhoid fever prevailing.where imperfect disposal of excreta obtains, and pulmonary tuberculosis or consumption more in evidence where over^ crowding with absence of 'sunlight and fresh air is found; Again, these nuisances provide favourable surroundings in which those animal pests; responsible for the transmission of diseases to man,may: live and thrive, An accumulation, of "excrement or filth inoculated with typhoid bacteria from some carrier is a favourable resort of the house fly, which in its turn infects our food and milk, and'so spread this disease. Deposits of rubbish and garbage provide 'both domicile and food for the plaguespreading rat. Stagnant pools of water and enipt|y tins, harmless.in themselves no doubt, provide ideal nurseries for the mosquito. None of these states has any inherent power to produce, a single disease-producing organism, but any of them has large potentialities for harm to our health. ■■ ' : The surgeon before operating prepares his patient and his surroundings by ensuring a condition of asepsis, i.e., absence of germ, life.. .Wo cannot go so far as thisj.it would be impracticable, but we can, by the prevention of nuisances, go a very long.way towards suppressing factors which are; favourable to the growth'of disease-producing organisms", and thus prevent the'spread of infectious diseases. .'. ,' ■ INSANITARY ENVIRONMENT. ■We must not, 1 however, lose sight of the fact that an insanitary environment, one subject', to ■;.' nuisances, can exercise a prejudicial effect on health and physique apart altogether from its possibilities for promoting the spread of infectious disease. To live under conditions subjecting one to the fumes from an offensive trade may not render us liable to infectious disease; a neigh'hour's neglected fqwlyard may produce no immediate ill'results to health! But to be unable'to eat one's dinner in comfort in the one case, or to wake up in the morning with a headache, owing to inability to. ventilate the bedroom during sleeping hours in the other ease, may produce a state of unhealth; and after all unhealth means the same thing as ill Health. Toleration of such surroundings can be acquired, for the human organism has a wonderful adaptability in this respect, but such toleration' is acquired at the expense of-health and physique. Similarly, in respect to- others of the nuisances enumerated, though the immediate discomfort may not be so obvious, the lowering of health and physique may be more insidious and more detrimental. .'

The aim. of present-day sanitation is to secure freedom from disease, a long term, full and useful period of life, and as many of the amenities-and comforts of life as possible for the-greatest; number; and of tho'factors making for these ends, a thoroughly sanitary environment, free from nuisances either injurious to health or offensive, is by no means the least. -The evil effects of a nuisance may be widespread, affecting others than. the. pfcrpetrator thereof; therefore, the Legislature has rightly made the causing of a nuisanco to be a punishable offence. The good citizen will, however, require no such coercive measure; and the careless citizen should recognise that he is not carrying out the y>lderi rule "to'do to others as he would bo;done by."