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Show You and Your Health By MORRIS FISHBEIN r tdtor, Journal et tHe Americas Medical Auocietioa, and at Hygele, HaalHi Msoaiine There are various ways hi which germs enter tha human body. They may, of course, enter, -with ir, through the bow and the breathing tract into tha lungs; they may reach the Intestines with food or fluids, or they may get through openings in the skin. It has bean estimated that at least SO per cent of infections enter en-ter tha body by way of tha nose and tha mouth, most of them through tha mouth. Tha Infectious organisms also may get in with dust, with objects placed in the mouth, or what is known as "hand to mouth" Infection may bs responsible. re-sponsible. These facts obviously are of Importance Im-portance In preventing infection. Hands should certainly be washed before and after handling food, or attending to any of tha ordinary toilet affairs of tha human body. Hands ahould be kept away from mouth and noea as much as possible. No one with decent manners man-ners wilt put his fingers in his nose or use his fingernails to pick his teeth. Intelligent people do not chew the ends of pencils or hold other objects in the mouth. They leave this for the lower animals. ani-mals. Dishes and ether utensils used Tor food or water should be boiled after use by one person and before be-fore use by another, particularly at times when there are epidemics of Coughs, colds and other respiratory res-piratory diseaaee. Food and drinfc should be clesn and most foods thoroughly cooked. Such simple measures would prevent innumerable cases of infection. Most infections pass directly from one human being to another, or through the medium of a carrier. car-rier. There may, bf course, be germs in ths air. In street dust, snd in various other materials, but Nature usually Is sbla to keep these under control, ss will be explained later. Infections differ as to the route by which they enter or sre transferred to the body. Tuberculosis, Tubercu-losis, for instance, comes in most times by way of ths lungs; infantile infan-tile paralysis probably by way of the nose; snd syphilis by way of the genital organs. In most cases the infectious material is transmitted trans-mitted by direct contact: in others it is transmitted indirectly through water, food, soil and air. In still other cases, it is transmitted trans-mitted by Insects or other carriers. car-riers. Applying a mathematical formula, for-mula, experts In preventive medicine medi-cine point out that the danger from infection diminishes inversely inverse-ly as to th cube of the distance from its cause. True Infections sre sometimes carried for great distances In peculiar pe-culiar ways. For example, a survey sur-vey reveals thst an infected mosquito mos-quito may travel on an airplane from South America to the United States, but that a mosquito infected infect-ed with malaria can hardly be blown by the wind from Brazil to the United States. Sun, wind, and other'factora in our environment environ-ment act unfavorably on infectious infec-tious organisms; otherwise, we would all long since have disappeared. disap-peared. The term "contact Infection" means a quick transfer of germs. Tha contact may not involve actual ac-tual touching of one person by a-other. a-other. It may, however, involve ' coughing, kissing, sneezing or handling. Infection may result from direct di-rect contact between an infected person and one who is well, or from a double contact of an infected in-fected person with a carrier and of tha carrier with on who is welL It Is possible also for infection to be transferred by soiled hands, towels, or cups, by remnants of food, toys, pencils, doorknobs, and similar materials. |