Wall-paper and Diseases.

Manufacturer and builder 1, 1873

The London Builder says:-
Some recent experiments prove the defectiveness of the ordinary process of disinfecting dwelling rooms, after infectious and contagious diseases, without, at the same time, stripping off the paper, and washing the walls and painted surfaces with caustic soda. In Manchester, nearly all men engaged in this duty have had fever or infectious disease, although the houses, previous to their visits, had been disinfected with chlorine, carbolic acid, &c. It is believed that contagious matter is retained in the paper, particularly when a number of layers have accumulated on the walls. In some cases the men removed as many as fifteen coats of paper; and they describe a fusty odor, which, of itself, may give rise to fever. The recurrence of fever in the same houses in Manchester, it is said, has greatly diminished since the introduction of this thorough mode of cleansing.