Letter to Surgeon General on transportation of patient D.P.

In this letter, a doctor describes the transportation of Italian immigrant D.P. to the Diamond Point Quarantine Station in Washington state, chosen for its isolation and temperate mountain climate. Leprosy was still incurable, and although leprosy is virtually impossible to transmit without sustained contact, great care was taken to ensure the patient left no disease-causing bacteria behind. On the journey, Mr. D.P. separated his bedsheets from the mattress with a thick towel to ensure no skin flakes or body fluids were left behind, regularly cleaned his sink with a 60% alcohol solution, gargled and flushed his nose with a antibacterial wash multiple times daily, and kept his used linens separate for later disposal.