The record-union., 1896-05-14
4 PREVENTABLE DISEASE.
Millions Spent in the Cure Of Typhoid
Fever.
This Money Should be Spent for Pro
lection Against the Disease In
stead of for Its Cure.

At the fourth annual State Sanitary
Convention, held in Los Angeles on
April 10th last, DR.. Thomas Ross of
Sacramento read a paper on Typhoid
Fever From Financial Standpoint,
from which the following extract is
taken. 1t should be read and pondered
upon by every citizen of Sacramento:
'It is truly said that the work of the
sanitarian contributes largely to the
welfare of mankind, to the health, the
vigor and the pecuniary advancement
of individuals; that his work, on ac-
count of it's being done gratuitously,
is too often unappreciated by the peo-
pie, who pay little or no attention to
his instructions, even in the presence
of epidemics.
Until comparatively recent date
every epidemic, including those of ty
phoid fever-a disease from which we
may gain immunity by the adoption
and enforcement of proper sanitary
measures-was considered to be a man
Hesitation of Divine anger. Prayers and
earnest supplication were publicly Of
fered to the Almighty, imploring Him
to stay the peStilence, the presence of
which was directly due to the peoples
ignorance of sanitary laws; to. their
filthiness, or, in more recent times, per-
haps, to their parsimony. This supersti-
ton was strongest where medical or
sanitary knowledge was most back
ward and where disease most prevailed.
LAS wealth depends in great measure
upon the energy and the regularity IN
which labor is conducted, and on the
returns made to labor, it necessarily
follows that it's accumulation is diff
cult in communities whose sanitary
condition is bad, exposing them to the
dangers of a low vitality and enfeebled
constitutions, which render them an
easy prey to the encroachments of dis
ease. Where health is precarious and
disease prevalent poverty abounds-
"a community in the full enjoyment
of health possesses the principal factor
for the production Of wealth, and en-
phasizes the truism that public health
IS public wealth.
THAT typhoid fever is preventable
disease: that it is caused by a specific
germ, the bacillus of Eberth, and that
the bacilli gain admission into the hu-
man body by drinking infected water,
are now well demonstrated facts; there
fore, it is of the greatest Importance
that all potable water be pure and free
substances, and from any contamina-
ton whatever. In fact, the use of con-
taminated water is of such serious con-
Germ to the individual, attacking his
life, his health and his purse, that he
cannot afford to take the chances of
sacrificing either by the use of such
water Knowing the dangers to which
he is exposed he should exert his whole
energy to see that he uses only pure
water for drinking and domestic pur-
poses.
Where the water supply of a city Is
pure, there is seldom or never seen a
case of typhoid fever that is not i'm
ported from some other less favored
locality 1t is truthfully said that the
number of cases of this disease in
community is a true index to the sani-
tary condition of the locality
"As the mortality of typhoid fever
differs in different epidemics it is diff
cult to give statistics which are uni
versally applicable. There is no doubt
whatever that the mortality has in re-
cent years been greatly diminished, IN
consequence of the treatment now gen
orally adopted, so that 1t may be as
low as ) or 6 per cent
I'm Sacramento, with an estimated
tvphoid fever for the year ending March
/. 1896. were six in number record
that any city of equal population would
have reason to be proud of This low
mortality is undoubtedly due to the
fortunate circumstance that the source
of the city's water supply-the Sacra-
mento River-was not infected during
the past year by the germs of the dis
ease. If. however, the water of the
Sacramento River should become con-
taminated by the germs Of the disease
from the Folsom Prison or from any or
the towns situated above Sacramento
Citv that discharge their sewage into
the river the presence of an epidemic
of typhoid fever in Sacramento, the
fatality of which cannot be foretold, is
inevitable.
"One hundred and twenty cases Of
typhoid fever have been reported to
me by the individual physicians OF the
CITY as having been treated by them
within the city limits during the year
ending March l, 1896, which represents
a mortality of > per cent.
1--WE will not assume, however, that
the rate of mortality that occurred in
Sacramento during the past year rep
resents the average death rate from
tvphoid fever in this nation, but we VIII
base our calculation on the usual aver
age mortality of Is per cent
.T will endeavor to present Tor your
consideration a computation showing
the amount of money expended annu-
ally for the care and treatment OF per-
sons afflicted with this disease
"It is stated that in the United states
tvphoid fever carries TO an uh'lmely
grave 10000 people annually Assum-
ing this to be correct, and estimating
the population of the United States TO
be s. 100000, and reckoning the NOR
tality to be - per cent.-whlch VIII
readily be conceded to be fair average
mortality from this disease-we nave
six and two-thirds cases for each death
and six and two-thirds times Joooo
Gives us 3:3533 333:. the number of per
sons in the United States who yearly
contract typhoid fever. a preventabie
disease.
"The cost of medical attendance
nursing. medicines and loss OF time
NAV be computed as follows-the aver
ARC0UVTE