How to Bring Up Baby.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 2, 10 July 1912, Page 59

How to Bring Up Baby.

(By

HYGEIA.)

Published under the auapices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. “ft is uiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain art ambulance at the bottom.''

A Dangerous Neighbour—the House Fly. THE following is the conclusion of the report of Dr lecture, the first part of which was given recently. Flies as Carriers of Microbes. Dr Champtaloup gave several remarkable proofs of the transmission of bacteria by Hies, and said that Dr Nash, in his annual report for 1009, summarised the position as follows: — ‘•'With legs, bodies and intestines laden ■with putrefactive 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 of sugar on which they can alight, each fly contributing its quota of generally unknown and often unmentionable filth, indudi-ng 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 ■■ ■> tides illustrating plainly what ha; •• -1 when a house fly with dirty feet walked over food stuff on which bacteria could grow. The first showed a i’etriplate 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 the fly’s feet touched the gelatine, and where the body dragged, the bacteria grew. The tracks of the wandering fly were (marked in colonies 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 American there died annually 49.000 babies under two years of age as a result of intestinal affections due to flies; In many of the large towns of Great Britain the infantile mortality pec annum was from 100 to 150 or more per •1000 babies born, and infantile diarrhoea played a luge part in this enormous waste of child life. On comparing tha figures for Xew Zealand during the last 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 bettor sanitary conditions under which we live. Of the total deaths under one year of age in New Zealand during the years 190 G-10, 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 Board, said that opened cans >of condensed milk wore often seen black with flies, attracted by the sugar in the milk, and he attributed to them a considerable share in 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 rates in the camps of the American soldier’s during the SpanishAmerican war did more than anything else to call attention to the importance Ot the fly as a distributor of the germs Of typhoid. Fortunately we now had it means of prophylactic injection against ivphoid which had already very considerably reduced both the attack and deatl) Tate among the soldiers in India. It would be unwise, however, to state that • he fly was the chief source of the spread ul o ***,'cholera and dysentery and diarrhoea. until we had facts definitely proving Jt. The fly was certainly a fae-

tor, but proof had yet to be brought that it was the chief factor.

Note by Hygeia.

What Dr. Champtaloup clearly conveys is that we have every reason to regard the house fly as a leading factor in carrying the germs of various diseases, and particularly in depositing them in our milk jugs.

It was the great surgeon Sir Joseph. Lister who said long ago that he only knew of one species of microbe that would not flourish ami multiply with extreme rapidity in milk. He pointed out that milk might be regarded as an ideal culture medium and breedingground for all kinds of germs. In view of this, and the/fact that the fly. from its habits and the filth in which it revels, is such a universal conveyer of all sorts and conditions of microbes, one can see how extremely important it is to keep down the pest, and to specially guard against the possibility of its entering the milk-jug.

Dr. Champtaloup certainly brought home to all of us, who. had the privilege of attending his lecture, that the familiar spectacle of a fly or two struggling in the milk is a very much more serious matter than the presence of a consider-

able 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 bouse fly, however clean he may look, should always be regarded as having come in all probability direct from unmentionable filth, tho living germs of which he carries on his person. Viewing the drowning fly in this light, many of us said at the conclusion of the lecture that we should never again be able to regard milk as safe and unpolluted after merely removing the flies. We know better now, and we know that, especially in the case of babies, such milk would not be entirely safe to use even after scalding it, seeing that the spores of minute organisms may survive the boiling point. While giving due attention to warding off the germs of disease, we must never lose sight of the fact that this is not the first line of defence. The first line of defence against every form of disease and every species of microbe is the main tenance of a high standard of health and fitness, so that if dangerous germs do gain access to the system the cells of the body will be in such good fighting form that they will either prevent the microbes from making an effective landing, or 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. Cliamptaloup’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 import-

ance of breast-feeding and proper care of food t-o which tlieir Society was paying so much attention with sueh excellent results. In educative measures particular attention should be directed to thschool child in inculcating knowledge of matters bearing on household cleanli nesa. (Applause.) Attention should be given to frequent removal of all accumulations of dirt, dust, or manure. All refuse should be stored peuding removal in properly-constructed covered cans. All foodstuffs, particularly milk, should be 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-data destructor instead of depositing our re fuse in heaps in the vicinity of the town. In conclusion, the lecturer explained several effective fly traps and fly poisons. He sat down amid hearty and prolonged applause.