OUR BABIES

Otago Witness, Issue 3040, 19 June 1912, Page 67

OUR BABIES

By Htgeia

Published under the auspices of tho Society for tho Health of Women and Children. . ~ " It is wiser to put up a fence at the tpp of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

A DANGEROUS NEIGHBOUR: THE HOUSE FLY. The following is the conclusion of the Teport of Dr Ohamptaloup's lecture, the first part of which was given "last week: FLIES AS CARRIERS OF MICROBES. Dr Champtaloup gave several remarkable proofs of the transmission of bacteria by flies, and said that Dr Nash, in his annual report for 1&39; summarised the potion as follows: — With legs, bodies, and intestines laden with putrefactivo germs, these flies in the fly season swarm all over all exposed food, * drown themselves in every uncovered jug or cup of milk, range over every tin of condensed milk or piece ot sugar on which they can alight, each fly contributing its quota of generally unknown and often unmentionable nltli, including its own intestinal evacuations, polluting human food to such an extent as in a short time to-convert for instance, milk from a wholesome food to a virulent dangerous poison.

He next showed two slides illustrating plainly what happened when a house flv with dirty feet walked over food stuff' on which bacteria could grow. The first showed a Petriplate filled with nutrient gelatine upon which a house fly, just from dish of dirty water, was allowed to wander for a moment. The plate was covered and set in a warm place for three days. Wherever the fly's feet touched the eelatiue, and where the body dragged, the bacteria grew. Tbe tracks of the wandering fly were marked in colonies of Hving bacteria, many thousands in each. The other slide showed a somewhat similar condition, though accidentally produced. Dr Champtaloup proceeded to discuss some disease bacteria which flies carry and the diseases they give rise. to. Among these were tuberculosis and various uarasitic diseases. MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS.

One authority stated that in the United States of America there died annually 49;000 babies under two. years of age as a "result of intestinal affections due to flies. In iuany of the large towns of Great Britain the infantile mortality per annum was from 100 to 150 or more per 1000 babies born, and infantile diarrhoea played a large part in this enormous waste of child life. On comparing the figured for New Zealand during the lasi 10 years we find that the average proportion of deaths of infants under one year of age to every 1000 births "was 71.9, while England and Wales was 109, a marked difference in our favour, and an indication of the better sanitary conditions under which we live. Of the total deaths under one year of age in New Zealand during the years 19061910, -19.8. or nearly i;0 per cent, were due to diarrhoea, these figures by no means indicating the actual number of persons attacked. Dr New.*holme, medical officer to the Local Government Board, said that opened cans of condensed milk were often seen black with flies, attracted by the sugar in the milk, and he „it..ri-..,i *-1 £— the causation of diarrhoea in children. Typhoid fever was a disease upon which much investigation had been made in its relation to flies, and, that insect had been found guilty up to the hilt. The excessive death rate*in the camps of the American soldiers during the Spanish-American war did more than anything eke to call attention to the importance of the fly as a distributor of the germs of typhoid, fortunately we now had a means of propnylacuo injection against typhoid which had already very considerably reduced both the attack and death rate amon«-our » Hl «« » ?"* > " Th? flv waTcertainly a factor, but , p l roof t -had h ye" y to be brought that * was ♦he chief factor. tfOTF/BY HYGEIA.

WTutt Dr Ohamptaloup clearly convoys What vr V"* ' reason to regard the factor in carrying of various fiseases, and partiouwas te"ftftSS* «r J r ph Lister £« saidMonjr ago that ho only knew of «n» secies *f microbe..that would not one , species «i extreme rapidity flourish and n in milk. He culture medium be regarded as an all kind 9 , c f end b««d«g grounrt «£ STflv From Us Habits and the filth in th i? i U revels is such a universal cpnSS?rfiKS and conditions of microbes ran see how extremely important it s ? Wn down tho pe*t. and to specially of its entering ih Df Chamltaloup certainly brought home to all of us, who had the privilege or atSndteg his Vcture. that the familiar spectacle o? a flv or two struggling in the.milk is a ?ery much more serious matter tliar, the presence of a considerable quantity of ordinary dirt which most people would regard as very much more disgusting and objectionable. "Clean dirt" may contain more or less germs, but the house fly, however cle<i.n he may look, should always be regarded as having come in all probability diree 1 - from unmentionable filth, the living jreraM of which ho carries on his person. Viewing the drowning fly m this light. manv said at the conclusion of the lecture that we should never again be able to regard milk as safe and unpolluted after merely removing tho flies. We know better now, and we know that, especially in the case of babies, such milk would not be entirely safe to us o even after scalding it. seeing that the spores of minute organisms may survive the boiling point. While giving d u o attention to warding off the germs of disease, we must never lose sight of the fact that this is not the first lino of defence. The first, line of defenco against every form of disease and every species of microbe is the maintenance of a high standard of health and fitness, so that if dangerous germs do gain access to the svstem, tho cells of the body will bo in such cood fighting form that they ■will either prevent the microbes from making an effective landing, o r will defeat them after they have become established.

Good air, good food, proper exercise, and regular, healthy habits form the first line of defence. This -was clearly inferred in Dr Champtaloun's lecture. DESTRUCTION OF FLIES. The last section of the address briefly dealt with some of the means for the destruction of the house fly and its haunts. In the essential matter of cleanliness compulsory legislation and inspection could only play' a part in prevention. Other facts must be' the education of the public in matters of general sanitary knowledge, and in the importance of breast-feeding and proper care of food, to which their Society was paying so much attention with such excellent results. In educative measures particular attention should be directed to the school child in inculcating knowledge of matters bearing on household cleanliness.—(Applause.) Attention should be giveo to frequent removal of all accumulations of dirt, dust, or manure. All refuse should be stored pending removal in properlv-constructed covered cans. A a foodstuffs, particularly milk, should be protected from contamination by fine gauze or other for Dunedin when we could afford the installation of an up-to-date destructor instead of depositing our refuse in heaps in tho vicinity "of the town. In conclusion, the lecturer explained several effective n.v traps and fly poisons. Ho sat down amid hearty and prolonged applause