How Laws Protect Public Health

We Still Have Epidemics

Despite everything that man does, epidemic of disease still break out. They must be brought under control quickly. Otherwise they may spread over an entire nation. Special measures are needed to make sure that this will not happen.

You might think that everybody would have sense enough to do everything he could to avoid catching a disease. That, unfortunately, is not true. Most persons are good citizen; they try to do everything they can to protect their own health and that of others. Some individuals, however, have no respect for the rights of others. To protect the public against them, laws have been passed.

Quarantine

Quarantine laws have been passed in order to help control diseases. Thus, if a child has been exposed to a disease such as diphtheria, his parents must keep him at home for a certain number of days. If the child does not develop the diseases, he is then permitted to go about usual. He must be kept at home, however, until the physician is sure that he is not carrying diphtheria germs and therefore will not spread them to other persons.

Quarantine laws should be observed very carefully. One careless person may start an epidemic of a disease if he does not do exactly what the law asks him to do. He endangers the health of people wherever he does.

Persons suffering from contagious diseases are often kept apart from those who are in good health. Only those who take care of them come near them. If the disease is a serious one, such as smallpox or diphtheria, the sick person may be removed to a special kind of hospital where only such cases are treated. Such a hospital is known as an isolation hospital. These measures are intended to prevent the spread of diseases.