Fresh Air

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"The Room is selected, the home care should be easy, well ventilated, and as far away as possible from the living rooms. "

These words were published 80 years ago and was from my grandfather, Dr. John Davy Rolleston, in his book the Acute infectious diseases - A Handbook for practitioners and students. In these Dark Days of the Covid-19 have some practices that have remained Timeless - the use of soap, scrubbing, and Fresh Air - while others sound-well, from a time long past.

"The Open type of fireplace is not only cheerful," it says in the Chapter "methods", But provides a simple and rapid means of disposal of soiled cleaning rags and other small fomites. "Fomites? What on earth fomites are? According to Google, the objects that you are likely to have an infection, such as clothes, kitchen appliances and furniture. "Carpets, Wallpaper and upholstery furniture items are removed. Plain washable suitable furniture is best for the sick Room . "A Council that holds probably still good today.

The Good Doctor is already Long Gone , But in the run-up to the second World War , he was a salmon-one of the UK's go-to authorities on infectious diseases such as smallpox, typhoid and Scarlet Fever . In The 1930S , Dr. Rolleston, the Medical Superintendent was in London's West hospital, and This Week , My Daughter found a battered third edition of his 1940 book, co-authored with Dr Ronaldson, hidden in my deceased mother is a collection of old books.

"Family circumstances may allow the home treatment of Scarlet Fever or measles," she wrote, "But a highly contagious disease such as smallpox, hospital isolation is necessary for The Public safety. "As an epidemiologist, my grandfather made a special investigation of the deadly infectious diseases such as smallpox, which had regularly London devastated, and he wrote a work on the smallpox pandemic of 1870-74, which killed over 20,000 soldiers in the Franco-Prussian war.

For those that contain the isolated home, his 1940s consulting in the scope of delivery details, which sound pretty strange to us eight decades later. "Room temperature," it reads, "should be maintained between 55 and 60F. "What? This is between 12 and 15C. I know, We Are always told that the people were made of sterner stuff, these days, But to keep someone in a Room can be cold, it hardly did much for their morale.

"On The Landing outside (the quarantined person's Room )," he continued, "placed the usual bath tub filled with disinfectant solution, the traditional "carbolised' sheet can be hung in front of The Door . "Carbolised? I had to look that one as well. Apparently it is an outdated term, which refers to the use of Phenol acid as a disinfectant to kill germs. "The bathroom... is designed for the soaking of the Laundry, which was removed from the sick Room . "

A student washes hands before the Operation in Guy's Hospital, London, 1935

the comments on the consultation today, Dr. Frank Cross , the, until recently, a consultant surgeon at The Royal London Hospital , points out that it was written, as there is still no treatment for contagious deadly diseases such as tuberculosis, syphilis and smallpox. "Fomites are equipped with bed linen," he says. "Keep it clean was especially important in the case of diseases with infectious pustules like smallpox. "

Surprisingly, the 1940's, the manual says that the total number of sterilization or "terminal disinfection" of a quarantine roommate laughing, The Room is no longer "in favor" But for streptococcal infection (e.g. scarlet, or The Most common form of pneumonia) "the liberal use of soap, water, and sunlight will be the radiation effect. "

But what about The Risk of infections in hospitals? Writing in 1940, the leadership was that a third of all hospital accommodation should the beds of the insulation. "The Real danger for the patient in an open Station, the fever hospital. from his other patients in The Ward itself. "

A baby insulated station in Hither Green hospital, South London , 1947

even then, as it seems, there was an awareness of the dangers of infecting asymptomatic carrier of the other, in the same way as Covid-19 today in The General population. The Book warns of the dangers of the coexistence of More Than one infection and The Risk of this is approved by "the patients in the incubation Phase of a second disease". But don't isolate every patient who says, The Book is a practical proposal.

"There never was a treatment for smallpox had a mortality rate of 30%," says Dr. Frank Cross . "And there is no treatment for Covid-19, although A Number of controlled studies are performed using various combinations of the already existing anti-viral agents. An advice about washing fomites and the hands washing has never been better. "

Today, the Dark Blue cap of my grandfather during the war Handbook of infectious diseases has faded with time, and probably in need of rebinding. Now that the political leaders remember that We Are in a different war, a different, I Wonder What he would have made, social distancing, barrier, and police, to the spread of The Novel coronavirus are confirmed. I suspect he would have approved whole-heartedly.

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Source of news: bbc.com