OUR BABES

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14771, 10 October 1921, Page 3

OUR BABES

(By llyccin)

A DANGER Or-: NEIGHBOUR: THE HOUSE FEY. The following is the conclusion of the report of Dr. Ghamptaloup’s lecture, the first part of which was given last week ; Ft. IKS AS CARRIERS OF MICRO RES. Or. Ch.iniplaloup gave several remarkable proofs of Hie transmission of bacteria by flies, ami sairl that f'r. Nash, in his annual report fhr 1000, summarised Hie position as follows ; With legs, bodies, and intestines laden with putrefactive perms, these flies in Hie fly season swarm over all exposed food, drown themselves in every uncovered jug or cup of milk, range over every tin of condensed milk or piece of sugar on which they can alight, each fly contributing its quota of generally unknown and often unmentionable filth, 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 virulently

dangerous poison. He next showed two slides illustrating plainly what happened when a house fly with dirty feel walked over foodstuff on which bacteria could grow. The first showed a Pctriplalc filled with nutrient gelatine upon which a house fly just from a 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 Hie fly’s feet touched the gelatine, and where the body dragged, the bacteria grew. The tracks of the wandering fly were marked in colonics of living 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 parasitic diseases. MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. One authority stated that in the [ United States of America there died annually 10,000 babies under two years of age as a result of intestinal a flections due to flies. In many of the large towns of Great Britain the infantile rnorlalily per annum was from j 100 to 1.10 or more per 1000 babies | I'mrn. ami infantile diarrhoea played a 1 large pari in Ibis enormous waste of | child life, fin comparing the figures for New Zealand during Hie last to years, we find that the average proportion of deaths of Infants under one year of age to every 1000 births was 71.9. This was nine years ago, the last five years the average has been under 50 per 100, while England and Wales was 109, a marked difference in our favour, and an indication of the better sanitary conditions under which wc live. Of the total deaths under one year of age in New Zealand during the years of 1906-1910, 19.8, or nearly 20 per cent, were due to diarrhoea, these figures by no means indicating the actual number of persons attacked. Dr. Newsholme. medical officer to the Local Government R.iard, said that opened cans of condensed milk were often seen, black with flics, attracted by Hie sugar in Hie milk, and lie attributed to them a considerable share in (ho causation of diarrhoea in children. Typhoid fever was a. disease upon whirli much investigation had been mode in its relation to flies, and that insect had been found guilty up to the hilt. The excessive death rale in thr camps of Hie, American soldiers during the Spanisli-Ameriean War did more than anything else to call attention to Hie importance of the fly ns a distributor of the germs of typhoid. Fortunately, wc now had a means of prophyiatic injection against typhoid which had already very considerably reduced botli the attack and death rate among our soldiers in India. It would be unwise, however, to slate that the fly was the chief source of the spread of typhoid, cholera, anil dysentery and diarrhoea, until we had facts definitely proving it. The fly was certainly a factor, hut proof had yet to be brought that it was the ctiief factor. DESTRUCTION OF FLIES.

The last section of the address briefly dealt with some of the means for the destruction of the house 11 y and ils haunts. In tlic essential matter of cleanliness compulsory legislation and inspection could play only n paid in prevention. Other facts must be the education of the public in matters of general sanitary knowledge, and in I lie importance of breastfeeding 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. given to frequent removal of all accumulations of dirt, dust or manure. All refuse should be stored pending removal in properlyconstructed covered cans. All foodstuffs, particularly milk, should he protected from contamination by fine gauze or other substance. It would be a good day for Dunedin when we could afford the installation of an up-to-date destructor instead of depositing our refuse in heaps in the vicinity of the town. In conclusion, the lecturer explained several effective fly-traps ahd fly-poisons.