State Laws and Regulations Pertaining to Public Health

STATE LAWS AND REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO PUBLIC HEALTH.

ADOPTED DURING THE YEAR 1920.

ALABAMA.

Diphtheria-Quarantine Placarding-Restrictions on Members of Infected Household-Quarantine of Carriers-Restrictions on Exposed Children— Receiving and Sale of Food-Cleaning. of Premises-Cultures. (Reg. Bd. of H., 1920.)

RULE 1. As soon as a diagnosis of diphtheria is made or suspected by the attending physician, a quarantine of the household in which the disease exists, or is supposed to exist, shall be established at once. The attending physician is required by law to establish this quarantine.

RULE 2. Every parent, householder, or other responsible person in whose family or household diphtheria exists shall post securely a placard, with the name of the above disease printed thereon, in a conspicuous place on the front of his or her home (when living in an apartment house or hotel, on the main entrance of the apartment or room) immediately upon receipt of such placard from the county health or quarantine officer, and no one shall remove said placard until the disease no longer exists either in an active case or carrier." The disease will be considered no longer existing when two successive microscopical examinations of the secretion taken at 24-hour intervals from the nose and throat of the person or persons affected show no germs of diphtheria. Such substitute for the placard as may be authorized by a county board of health may be used in the county of the board adopting it.

RULE 3. No parent, householder, or other responsible person in whose family or household diphtheria exists shall permit any member thereof to attend any public or private school, Sunday school, church, theater, party, picnic, or other public gathering; nor shall they eat at public eating places, drink at soda founts, ride on public conveyances, or enter public parks.

RULE 4. All adults of the household shall have microscopical examination of the secretions of the nose and throat made and, if such examination shows these secretions to be free from the germs of the disease, such adults as are not engaged in nursing the sick and who do not come into contact with the sick, or a "carrier," may be released from the conditions prescribed in rule 3.

RULE 5. Those children or adults who are found to have the germs of diphtheria in their nose or throat, and who are commonly known as "carriers " shall be placed under strict quarantine because, although not ill, they are as dangerous to others as the active case of the disease.

RULE 6. Children who have been exposed to diphtheria shall not associate with other children, until the cultures from the nose and throat are found 1

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negative. The term " exposed," as applied to diphtheria, is defined as playing or eating together or engaged in any way whereby the hands or mouth come in contact, or using the same playthings, pencils, books, etc., though they do not come into actual personal contact.

RULE 7. No food supplies, including milk, shall be received in the family, or household, in containers which are to be returned, nor shall any food, including milk and butter, which is handled through the household, be sold or given away while diphtheria exists therein.

RULE 8. At the expiration of the quarantine, the room or rooms occupied by the sick or carrier shall be thoroughly cleaned in accordance with directions adopted by the Alabama State Board of Health.

RULE 9. When the final specimen of the secretions from the nose and throat of the patient or "carrier is sent in for examination, it should be accompanied by similar specimens from those nursing or in close contact with the case, in order to determine whether they have become " carriers."

Measles Quarantine-Placarding-Restrictions on Exposed Persons Who Have not Had the Disease-Isolation of Latent Cases. (Reg. Bd. of H., 1920.)

RULE. 1. As soon as a diagnosis of measles is made or suspected, a quarantine shall be established at once of the household in which the disease exists or is supposed to exist. The attending physician is required by law to establish the quarantine.

RULE 2. Every parent, householder or other responsible person in whose family or household measles exists shall post securely a placard, with the name of the above disease printed thereon, in a conspicuous place on the front of his or her home (when living in an apartment house or hotel, on the main entrance of the apartment or rooms) immediately upon the receipt of such placard from the county health or quarantine officer and said placard shall not be removed (if removed by accident, shall be replaced) until a period of at least 10 days has passed since the eruption, or by written permission of the county health or quarantine officer. Such substitute for the placard as may be authorized by a county board of health may be used in the county of the board adopting it.

RULE 3. No parent, householder, or other responsible person, in whose house or family measles exists, shall permit any member of their family or household who has measles to leave the premises where they are isolated, nor shall they be allowed to associate with others on or near said premises.

RULE 4. No parent, householder, or other responsible person shall permit any member of their family or household, who has never had measles but who has been exposed to measles, to go to any school, Sunday school, church, theater, party, or other public gathering, until 14 days have elapsed from the time of exposure with no symptoms of beginning disease.

RULE 5. All persons who have never had measles, but who have been exposed to measles, when they show symptoms of "cold" in the head, a soreness or tickling in the throat or a dry cough should be considered latent cases of measles and isolated accordingly. When there exists an epidemic, it should be a foregone conclusion that every one has been exposed.

RULE 6. Persons suffering from measles may be discharged from quarantine 10 days after the appearance of the eruption providing all symptoms, including discharge from nose and ears, have disappeared; otherwise, on the written permit of the county health or quarantine officer.

Scarlet Fever-Quarantine-Placarding-Restrictions on Adult Members of Infected Household-Restrictions on Exposed Children-Latent CasesCarriers-Receiving and Sale of Food-Cleaning of Premises. (Reg. Bd. of H., 1920.)

RULE 1. As soon as a diagnosis of scarlet fever is made or suspected, a quarantine of the household in which the disease exists, or is supposed to exist, shall be established at once. The attending physician is required by law to establish this quarantine.

RULE 2. Every parent, householder or other responsible person in whose family or household scarlet fever exists shall post securely a placard, with the name of the above disease printed thereon, in a conspicuous place on the front of his or her home (when living in an apartment house or hotel, on the main entrance to the apartment or room), immediately upon the receipt of such placard from the county health or quarantine officer, and no one shall remove said placard until the case has recovered and peeling of the skin and all discharges from the nose, throat, and ears have ceased; but, not in any case, until at least five weeks from the date on which the eruption appeared on the patient. Such substitute for the placard as may be authorized by a county board of health may be used in the county of the board adopting it.

RULE 3. No parent, householder, or other responsible person in whose family or household scarlet fever exists shall permit the person who has scarlet fever, or any person under 15 years of age, to leave the premises or associate with others on or near the said premises while under quarantine.

RULE 4. Adult members of the family or household in which scarlet fever exists may go about their regular vocation except when engaged in any industry connected with the preparation or handling of milk, food, or drinks or in a school or other place where children are employed or congregate. Such adults, however, shall not enter any school, Sunday school, church, theater, party, picnic, or other public gathering.

RULE 5. No parent, householder, or other responsible person shall permit a child under 15 years of age who has been exposed to a case of scarlet fever to associate with other children, or to attend any school, Sunday school, church, theater, party, picnic, or other public gathering; nor shall they drink at soda fount, eat at public eating places, ride on public conveyances, or enter public parks, until a period of seven days have elapsed, and not then if there is any evidence of "cold" or sore throat.

RULE 6. Any adult or child who has been exposed to scarlet fever and who develops a sore throat or discharge from the nose, however mild, shall be considered a latent case of scarlet fever, or at least a carrier" and subject to these rules of quarantine.

RULE 7. No food supplies, including milk and drinks," shall be received in the family or household in containers which are to be returned, nor shall any food, including milk and butter, which is handled through the household, be sold or given away 'while scarlet fever exists therein.

RULE 8. At the expiration of the quarantine, the room or rooms occupied by the case or cases of scarlet fever shall be thoroughly cleaned in accordance with the direction adopted by the Alabama State Board of Health.

State Laboratory and Pasteur Institute-Acquisition of Site for-Erection of Building-Purchase of Equipment—Appropriation. (Act 14, Sept. 28,

1920.)

That an act entitled 'An act to provide for the purchase or condemnation of a site and the erection of a building thereon for a Pasteur institute and

laboratory and the purchase of necessary or proper equipment therefor and to make appropriation for such purposes," approved September 30, 1919, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

SECTION 1. The governor is hereby empowered and directed to purchase a suitable and desirable site in the city of Montgomery, Ala., for the purpose of erecting thereon a`suitable building to be used as a State laboratory and Pasteur insitute, taking title to the site acquired in the name of the State. If a desirable site may not in the opinion of the governor be purchased at a reasonable price, he shall direct the attorney general to institute condemnation proceedings for and on behalf of the State to condemn the site desired.

SEC. 2. When directed by the governor the attorney general shall apply in the name of the State of Alabama to the probate court of Montgomery County for an order, condemning to the use of the State in perpetuity such land desired. The application need not be verified by oath but must in all other respects take the same course under the statutes that other applications for condemnation of lands for public use now take.

SEC. 3. When a site shall have been acquired by the State as provided herein, it shall be the duty of the chairman of the State board or control and economy to have prepared by some competent architect plans and specifications for a building suitable for the purposes and needs of a State laboratory and Pasteur institute, to be approved by the governor, and shall advertise once a week for three consecutive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation in Montgomery, Mobile, and Birmingham, for bids to erect said building in accordance with said plans and specifications. Upon opening of said bids, the governor is authorized to enter into a contract, in the name of the State, with such of the bidders as he may deem best, or he shall be empowered to reject any and all bids if he deem advisable.

SEC. 4. The State health officer is authorized and required to select and purchase such scientific apparatuses or paraphernalia as may be necessary or proper to equip said laboratory and Pasteur institute in an up-to-date and first-class manner, having regard to the purposes, uses, and size thereof.

SEC. 5. There is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the State treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $30,000, or so much thereof as may be needed for the uses and purposes of this act, and which shall be paid out upon warrant of the auditor drawn as and when directed by the governor. Pupils-Annual Physical Examinations-Duties of Health and Educational Authorities. (Act 101, Oct. 5, 1920.)

SECTION 1. That the State department of education and the State board of health shall in conjunction arrange for the examination of each and every child attending the public schools of this State, both male and female, for any physical defects of any kind, embracing mental deficiency, diseases of the ear, eye, nose and throat, mouth and teeth, and any deformity or dislocation of the hip-joints or spinal disease, phimosis, hookworm disease, and any other disease requiring medical or surgical aid in developing the child into a strong and healthy individual. The several county boards of education and county boards of health shall cooperate fully with the State board of education and State board of health in the promotion of this work. The county superintendent of education shall arrange with the county health officer a schedule of dates for this examination of the children in the public schools under his supervision and the city superintendent of schools shall make like schedule for the schools under his supervision.

SEC. 2. That each and every child shall be examined before October 1 in each and every year by the county health officer, and that the State superin

tendent of education be, and is hereby, required to have blanks printed to be furnished by the county superintendent of education to the various school districts. The county health officer of each county shall make such physical examinations of the school children and he shall secure such assistance from the county board of health as is necessary. All examinations held under this act shall be without charge to the child or its parents.

SEC. 3. That every public school and private or parochial school shall carry out a system of physical education, the character of which shall conform to the program or course outlined by the State department of education.

SEC. 4. That each child shall be furnished with a certificate of examination,which shall be recorded by the teacher in a record kept for that purpose, the certificate to be returned to the parent or guardian of the child.

SEC. 5. That the State board of health shall supply the county health officers with glass slides and tubes, if necessary, for the taking of specimens, for making blood tests and hookworm tests.

SEC. 6. That the State board of health shall have all necessary tests made at the State laboratory upon the request of the county health officer.

SEC. 7. That to the end that the objects and purposes of this act may be fully carried into effect, and the health of the school children of Alabama may be materially improved, the cooperation of the county board [s] of health in the various counties of Alabama, in conjunction with the county health officers, is expected without charge to the parent or the child.

Food and Drugs-Misbranding. Food Produced in Foreign Countries-Regulation of Sale. (Act 115, Oct. 5, 1920.)

That section 5 of an act entitled "An act to regulate sale of food and drugs in the State of Alabama, to provide for enforcement and inspectors and prescribe penalties for violation thereof, ["] approved Aug. 26, 1909, be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

SEC. 5. That the term "misbranded," as used herein, shall apply to all drugs, the package or label of which shall bear or contain any statement, design, or device regarding the purity or therapeutic effect of such articles or any of the ingredients or substances contained therein, which shall be false or misleading in any particular, or to articles of food the package or label of which shall bear or contain any statement, design, or device regarding such articles or any of the ingredients or substances contained therein, which shall be false or might prove deceptive as to the true character of the product, or to any food and drug product which is falsely branded as to the State, Territory, or county [country] in which it is manufactured or produced.

That for the purpose of this act an article shall also be deemed misbranded: In case of drugs:

First. If it be an imitation of or offered for sale under the name of another article.

Second. If the contents of the package as originally put up shall have been removed, in whole or in part, and other contents shall have been placed in such package, or if the package fails to bear a true statement on the label or fail[s] to show in conspicuous letters a true statement as is or may be prescribed by the United States law or rules and regulations of the quantity and proportion of any alcohol, spirituous, vinous, or malt liquor, morphine, opium, cocaine, heroin, alpha or beta eucaine, chloroform, cannabis indica, chloral hydrate, antipyrine, or acetanilid, or any derivative or preparation of any such substances contained therein: Provided, That nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to apply to such preparations as are specified and recognized by the United States Pharmacopoeia, or National Formulary, or to prescriptions

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