The Portland daily press., 1892-03-05

have been made is well worth being put
49, 800 ,,ermanent form The az
a n,ou o.a of fhe board with other city and
800 1913 ~ yyo11ld afford the student Of
so%;t ~ U" so;ence mnch valuable informa
t;o,, Witch OUGHT to be utilized for the
| henefit Of orr city. The statistics of this
board ,r;nted in former reports show
that nearly $40 900 was annually expend-
for Ihe removal, in this city, of night
soil. house and fish offal, and ashes and
| house rubbish. -
| All the above points Enthusiastically to
| the fact that the time mas come when
department of public health ought to be
established by the city council to take
| cbarge Of the work now done under the
d;racfion Of two separate bodies. and no
snnervis;on at all. A competent SUPER
intendent permanently employed could
q administer such a department as to
save annually large sum of money to the
c ci, and ntilize for the great benefit of
| citizens tbe experiences of this board.
| That snch department will be formed
| ;s hnt to saw that we shall follow the ex-
annie of ali considerable cities. In our
opinion this time should not be delayed.
Typhoid Fever.
DIR, MeSerVeS mas PuiSutu his lnVeSll-
| CATION into the probable causes of the
| cases of typhoid fever in this city, lo6
cases of which were reported during the
calendar wear 1891. It is much to be re-
| GREETED that all physicians, who reported
| cases, and to whom circulars were SENT
did not more readily respond, in order
that the conclusions arrived at might be
drawn from a consideration of all the
cases reported.
Contagious Diseases.
We are required to report weekly to
the State Board of Health all cases of
small box, diphtheria, scarlet fever,
cholera, typhus or typhoid fever, re-
ported by physicians or heads of fami-
lies. No cases of small pox, cholera or
tvnhus fever have been reported to us
durino the wear. The following is a
Summary of reports of cases of diphthe-
ria. scarlet fever, and typhoid fever re-
ceived by us for the year ending Februa-
ny Goth, 1892:
| Diphtheria, number Of cases. ............ % %
| Scarlet fever, . :. =. ....''.''.-'.', 90 &c
| Tophoid fever, ....-.....-'..loS
The number of deaths from the above
| diseases was, from
| Diphtheria. ....... .........-......'..',..'
| Scarlet fever ....,.., .................
| Tophoid fever. .r...-.,..--- IL
Last wears record shows the following:
Cases Deaths
Dlpltlerla ~ oO :.
| Scarlet fever .,....., ~
| Typhoid fever. ..-...',-.. oV
1t will be noticed that the number of
cases of scarlet fever this year is much
larger than for many years past. There
] are MANY causes which will account for
this. In the first place, the type of this
disease during the year has been very
mild, so mild that in a very large num-
| bel of cases no physician has been called
but the cases have had only home treat
ment. In some cases, and probably
many more than we know, the child was
sent back to school upon the disappear
ance of sore throat, and during the stage
of desquamation, which was unnoticed
or attributed to other causes. Here,
| lust at the time when the disease was
most communicable, the largest and
| freest opportunity was given for its
spread. 1t seems not to be generally
known. and certainly is not appreciated,
| that mild case may communicate I'M
der favorable circumstances, a most ma
| lignant case of this disease. In the next
/
alence of the disease has been the faulty
diagnosis. A first appearance in fami-
| ly has been diagnosticated
| as German measles second and
subsequent cases without doubt proceed
| ing from the first, have been unmistaka-
| bly, scarlet fever. But ip the meantime,
the disease has had time and opportuni-
| ty to communicate itself through a wide
or narrow circle as the case may have
! been.
| Looking at this matter from our point
| of view, it would seem to be the part of
wisdom, when this disease is SO preva-
| lent, to treat all cases of German meas
| les'' or allied diseases in conservative
manner, and by isolation and other pre-
| yentiye measures restrict as far as may
| be the chance of spreading such a disease
as scarlet fever. 1t is to be regretted
| that every person. whether parent or
physician, does not take. the most obvi-
Gus course or proceeding.
IT connivance or concealment is prac-
| ticed, for any reason, in these cases, it
cannot be expected that the board of
health can prevent the spread of contag
| ious diseases Its knowledge of cases
must come from information of those
competent to make q diagnosis, if this
information be withheld, the response
bility of the spread of disease, must rest
where it belongs and not on the mem
bers of this board.
The off GERS of the board are DR.. Chas
D. Smith, president; Mr.. Geo. G. Bur
CESS, secretary, and Mr., John FL. Say
ward, No. IS City Building, inspector.
NEW BUILDINGS.