Litchfield enquirer., 1879-01-02

Birth place other states 10 Birth place ill foreign countries r 23
 The month shows marked decrease in the
 mortality from zymotc diseases in both cities.
 Last months croup and diphtheria in New
 Haven have very much decreased. The CO.,
 pious rains have washed the streets of Hart | ford, flushed it's main sewer Little River and given drinkable water again.
 Typhoid fever is reported from Suffield, and 1 typho-malarial is very prevalent. In Guil-
 ford eight severe cases of typhoid fever occur
 red during the month in two families of the
 battery from that place who had camped at
 Mantle. These families had been severely
 sick with typhoid fever, showing the infect
 ious nature of the disease. Had care been
 used in disinfecting the typhoid dejections,
 process involving little trouble or expense,
 these cases might have been prevented. Diptheria reappeared in Winsted during the
 month. Since the last epidemic the disease
 fingered in badly-drained houses near stagnant
 pools of water, remaining in this form for about two months, when it again broke out as
 an epidemic, covering about the same period of time as the previous one-about two weeks and subsiding as quickly. The disease was
 not 80 malignant as it often is- cases not reach ing fatal termination until the sixth or ninth
 day. The fatal cases have all been in the wes- | tern part of the town.
 | In the two epidemics seventeen children | died, all but two or three under seventeen l years of age. Two or three deaths from scar l let fever and diphtheria-about the average | when these diseases have appeared before A l very remarkable prevalence of spasmodic croup succeeded this last outbreak. The cases
 were all very tractable, however, none fatal. Diptheria has been very prevalent in Wood
 stock valley during the summer and fall. The first case was in the latter part of July-appar-
 ently sporadic. There is small mill pond in front of the house, which was nearly dry for some time previous and the kitchen slops were thrown directly under the windows, and l shallow pool was generally present. The l latter unsanitary condition was connected with | several of the severe cases. The second case
 resulted in about week from direct exposure
 to this, and Tn another week three members | of the same family were attacked The dis
 ease then became epidemic ic-confned mainly | to children under twelve, and cruising two deaths. There were about thirty-five cases,
 diphtheroid included | Diphtheria has been reported from Colum-
 bia, Willimatic, Granby, and Collinsville; and l scarlet fever from Collinsville.
 | Ridgefeld gives the best report, and Say
 brook the next, as to hygenic condition Two deaths are reported from Saybrook-one from
 old age, the other tumor. Ridgegeld reports three deaths, the average age S4. Intermittent fever is reported as invading Salisbury for the first time.
 | The disease that has been prevalent in this state, and generally considered as diphtheria,
 seems not to be the malignant, contagious form that is sometimes encountered The slight comparative mortality IS noticeable. A false
 variety of diphtheria, or at least mild form,
 is very prevalent in certain parts of England,
 which this variety very closely resembles. The l following are its distinctive features: The disease is to great extent confined to i the tonsS, sometimes invading the glands of the neck, and although yellowish browuish spots are seen, there is no tough leathery mem- brane
 9 The patients are anamic, having no al
 buminaria, pulse usually full, average dura- tion ten days It is communicable, but not
 very contagious.
 B. It is seldom fatal, and is not followed by
 paralysis.
 It is essentially filth disease, always asso
 ciated with some organic impurity of ar or
 water, and saturation of the soil around dwell lings with slop water.
 There is often prevalence of sore throats of nOu-infectious nature before an outbreak
 of diphtheria. Some who accept the germ
 theory of disease believe that an already ex- isting organism may take on an infectious character, and in that manner explain the Ori-
 gin of typhoid fever, diptheria, and the like. from unsanitary conditions, without the spe- cifc virus from preceding case. Whether
 these mild cases can lead up to diphtheria or
 not it is certain that the virus of diphtheria
 gains new strength, malignancy and infective
 power by passing through human organism,
 just as the most vigorous vaccine virus is that
 one remove from the bovine-that is, that
 which has passed through one human system.