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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

To Help Control Whooping Cough and Diphtheria, Do Not Send Ill Children to School, 1922


From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, Richmond County, September 7, 1922

As the time is drawing near for the opening of the schools in Richmond county and there are quite a number of cases of whooping cough and diphtheria in the county, I wish to impress upon all the people of the county the necessity of doing everything in their power to prevent the further spread of these and other infectious and contagious diseases. As the schools open and the children are brought in contact with each other in great numbers, the chances for exposure to disease is much increased, so we readily see the importance of allowing no child which has symptoms of the contagious disease to enter school until such child has been examined by a physician and presents a certificate stating that such child has no contagious disease.

One child suffering with whooping cough remaining in a school room for a short time will probably transmit the disease to every child in the room that has not had the disease. It is unfortunate for a child to lose the time from school because of sickness but it is much better to do so rather than to keep going for a while and causing many others to be sick and lose time from school and possibly their lives.

We often hear parents say children have to have whooping cough sometime and the sooner the better, but I desire to say this is a mistaken idea, for the older a child becomes the stronger it is and he is more able to withstand the disease. Most children that die from whooping cough are under five years of age. Very few children over five years of age die from the disease, so we can readily see the importance of preventing the spread of the disease and, in this way, save the children from exposure.

We now have a vaccine which, if given to children, lessens the danger of contracting the disease. This is not an absolute preventative in every case, but if it does not prevent it entirely it will cause the attack to be of a more mild form. After a child has developed whooping cough the vaccine will, in some cases, cure it and if it fails to cure the disease it will make it run a milder course and lessen the danger of complications that some times accompany the disease.

In regard to diphtheria, every child from the age of six months to six years should be given three doses of toxin anti-toxin, which immunes the child from diphtheria, one of the most dangerous diseases which children are subject to. For full details in regard to this toxin anti-toxin, I advise every parent who has young children to consult their family physician, who will be glad to give them full details in regard to this treatment.

No child suffering from a sore throat should be allowed to attend school until it presents a certificate from a doctor stating that it has no symptoms of diphtheria. By everybody co-operating and complying with the quarantine laws, we should be able to prevent, to a very great extent, the further spread of those diseases. The law requires every teacher to report to the quarantine officer every case of any of any of the reportable diseases, which he or she knows about in their school district. It also requires every parent or householder to report every case in their home about whom no physician has been consulted. Each physician is required to report every case about which he has been consulted. I feel sure that all will take an interest in this work of preventing disease and much good will be accomplished and many lives be saved by our efforts.

                                --Dr. W.R. McIntosh, County Quarantine Officer

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