Health Notes for the Farm

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 61, Issue 2, 15 August 1940, Page 154

Health Notes for the Farm

Contributed by, the Department of Health

An Insanitary Environment Can Prejudice Health and Physique

FROIM the earliest days of efforts to promote a better public health, the ~ . . ■ , , abatement of nuisances has been considered an essential part of such work, So much so that the officers appointed under our earliest English Act deal-, ing with public health were known as inspectors of nuisances, a title which H ., ~ , survived until qui e recen y. The' earlier pioneers in health work attributed most, if not all, of what we know as epidemics of infectious diseases to the existence of those conditions known as nuisances, insanitation in dwellings, dampness, lack of sunlight, overcrowding, offensive accumulations of fifth and garbage, keepins of animals under insanitary condimg of animals under insanitary conai tions, emanations from offensive trade processes, impure, water supplies, and excessive production of smoke. To a very large 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. To a limited extent these early pio-' neers 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 the standard of public health. But in the larger knowledge which has been acquired as to the cause of these epidemic diseases it is now known that these conditions are not the immediate 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.

Disease Organisms within the limits of our present . " 1 “ u ? the limns or our present knowledge we know that infection of the human organism with certain disease-producing bacteria will, given certain favourable circumstances, produce specific infectious diseases. We know, however, that most of these disease producing organisms 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, and in 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 imper f ec t disposal of excreta obtains, and pulmonary tuberculosis or consumption more in evidence where overcrowding with absence of sunlight and , fresh air is . found. Again, these nuisances provide favourable surroundings in which these animal pests responsible for the . transmission of diSe3Se t 0 man may live and ' thrive - . Wpenrts of Carriers i esorts °J Carriers 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 spreads this disease. Deposits of rubkish and garbage provide both dormcite and food for the plague-spreading ra t- Stagnant pools .of water and empty 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-pro-ducing organism, but any of them has large potentialities for . harm to . our health. ’ . .

Before operating, the surgeon preares his patient and his surroundings b y ensuring a condition of asepsis; .. . . b nf „„ rrn 1if _ w „ _„ n _ ’ „ , . . , • not f.° “ far as thls - 11 w “ uld be lm ’ Practicable 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, 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 o f infectious disease. To live under conditions subjecting one to the fumes f rom an offensive trade may not render us liable to infectious disease; a neighhour’s neglected fowlyard may produce no immediate ill-results to health, g u t to be able to eat one’s dinner in comfort in the one case, or to wake ? p mt % 'Y 1 a h eadaa k a because of inability to ventilate the bedroom during sleeping hours in the other case may produce a state of up, health, and after all, unhealth means the same thing is ill-health, Toleration of . such surroundings can b e acquired, for the human organism b as a wonderful adaptability in : this respect, but such toleration is acquired at tbe expense of health and physique, Similarly, in respect to others of the nuisances enumerated, although the immediate discomfort may not be so obvious, the lowering of health and physique may be more insidious and more detrimental. -

Present-day Sanitation The aim of present-day sanitation is to secure freedom from disease, a longterm, full, and useful period of life, and as many of the amenities and comforts of life as possible for the greatest number; and of the factors making for these 1 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 nusiance may be widespread, affecting others than the perpetrator. Therefore, the Legislature has rightly made the causing of a nuisance 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 golden rule “to do to others as he would be done by.”