Mesa free press., 1898-11-18
THE SICKNESS AT MANILA.
Improvement Expected With Cooler
Weather.

The health of the troops at Manila
at present is far from being good, not
withstanding the statements at the
medical department to the contrary.
At Cavite the conditions are very bad.
There have been over forty deaths
there since September 1, mostly from
typhoid fever. One-third of the officers
of the Montana volunteer regiment
are on the sick list. including the col
onel and lieutenant-colonel, who are
unfit for duty. In one battery alone
over rs per cent Of the men stationed
there have been on the sick list with
in a month, the officers being affected
as well as the privates. The hospital
accommodations there are inadequate.
The supply Of medicines was exhaust
ed at one time and for days there was
nothing incidentally to administer TO
the patients. The place is unhealthy
at best. The men are quartered on
ground floors, where it is damp, and
in this country especially conducive
to illness. Many of the men worked
themselves Ill during the process OF
cleaning Cavite, but now that the
sanitary conditions ARE being looked
after an improved record Will doubt
less follow.
In Manila the conditions are better.
The men are fairly well quartered and
the men are being given better accom-
modations as fast as possible and 1t
will not now be long before all reason
for complaint will have passed. Much
of the sickness of the past Can be
traced to tho overcrowding of tho men
while proper quarters were being pre-
pared.
Malarial is the most common of the
diseases among the troops. A malarial
condition Is the natural result of the
climate and sanitary conditions which
prevail. Typhoid fever has also devel-
oped to serious degree. The aver age
number of the sick in tho hospitals,
in addition to the number of men re-
lieved from duty by order of the ply
sicians, is 800. The new cases reported
to the hospitals daily, average about
forty cases.
There have been tweiva cases o.
smallpox among the soldiers so far,
six of which have proved fatal. Tho
regimental physicians have advised
the whitewashing Of the soldiers quar-
ters and liberal use of corrosive sub
Innate, but there is not sufficient lime
or corrosive sublimate, or even good
substitute to be had Smallpox is al
ways prevalent among the natives,
many having it as children. The doc
tors are doing everything possible 10
confine it among the natives. N, cases
have been reported for the last five
days. The hospitals, which in t5a past
have been nothing more than death
traps are being put into sanitary con-
dition. They are abundantly supplied
with food and medicines are now OBJ
.tainable at moment s notioa. The
Red Cross has been grossly mIsman-
aged and has been of little assistance.
Colonel Lippincott has steadfastly
refused to give out any information to
the press from his Office up to last
week and only, then through General
Otis. COL Lippincott said: with
cooler weather, a-radical Improvement
is looked for"
General Otis recently inspected one
of the hospitals-the Convent Hos
pital, established since the capitula-
ton of Manila, and said it was the
finest hospital he had ever visited
For the three months ending Octo-
Der 1st, the number of deaths in this
army from all causes number four of
ficers and eighty-three enlisted men.