The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-23
CAMP CONDITIONS AND SICKNESS.


bacteriologist of the National Museum at
Washington, and pathologist at the Garfield
Memorial Hospital. was sent to investigate
Camp Cuba Lbre, at Jacksonville. In the
attempt to fasten responsibility on the gov
eminent for the sickness among the troops
great stress has been laid on the bad loca-
ton of camps. malarial conditions, etc.
Natural conditions of this kind might pro-
duce malarial fever. but not typhoid fever,
which was the most prevalent and fatal
disease among the soldiers during the sum-
mer. After a thorough investigation of
Camp Cuba Iibre and its surroundings, in
GLIDING archaeological examinations, DR..
Carroll reports that he did not find a single
case of malarial fever or even a malaral
organism among all the sick soldiers in the
division or other hospitals. The significance
of this statement is in the fact that if the
location were malarial soldiers who have
been sleeping on or near the ground and
exposed to the night air would contract ma
larial fever. and the fact that not a case
of that peculiar disease was found shows
that the natural conditions of the camp are
not to blame for the sickness which pre-
walls there. and which DR.. Carroll says is
typhoid, and not malarial. Typhoid fever is
infectious, but not contagious. One or two
cases in a camp will soon infect the whole
camp and vicinity through the water sup
ply and other channels. unless the most
stringent sanitary measures and means of
prevention are adopted. These measures
require cooperation on the part of officers
and men. Typhoid fever is almost always
more or less prevalent in large army camps
The changed condition of a mans life, and
especially of the volunteer soldier, makes
him especially susceptible to the disease.
He leaves comfortable home to sleep ex-
posed to the night air, eats food to which
he is not accustomed, and does many things
that are different from his usual mode of
living, resulting more or less in the weaken
ing of his constitution and making him an
easy subject for the ravages of the typhoid
germ. The government is not responsible
for the introduction into a camp Of a dis
ease which does not arise from local condi-
tons and the propagation of which is large
ly due to the neglect of sanitary regula-
tons by officers and men. AS the water
supply in Camp Cuba Libre is from artesian
wells, several hundred feet deep, it is not
likely they are infected with the typhoid
bacillus. A Jacksonville paper, commenting
On DR.. CAROLS report, says:
Colonel Maus, chief surgeon of the corps,
is inclined to the opinion that many of the
cases are caused by soldiers drinking water
from surface wells in the outskirts of the
city, thus getting the infection, and also
by drinking all sorts, of concoctions that
sold at stands in the vicinity. In this con-
nection it might be well to state that it
would seem TO be most singular that while
in one regiment considerable sickness may
be found, yet in the regiment next to it
there will be only a very few cases. The
question naturally comes: What is the rea-
due to sanitary regulations, in regiments
where they are est strictly enforced there
being the least Sickness.
While DIR. Carroll was making this bac-
THEOLOGICAL investigation of Camp Cuba
Libre, DR.. Craig, a prominent surgeon and
specialist, was making similar examina-
ton of the water at Chickamauga Park,
and with the same result, namely, that the
location of the camp was found to be un-
exceptionable and the water originally pure,
but both had become infected through the
neglect of sanitary regulations. DR.. Craig
says:
The sickness which has been prevalent at
the park is simply due to the improper
manner in which the sanitary regulations
have been enforced. The typhoid fever did
not originate in the park, but was brought
here by the troops, and all of this talk in
reference to the original unhealthfulness of
Chickamauga Park is nonsense. Many
typhoid cases were brought here by the diff
ferent regiments. but the regimental COM
manders, not being aware of the fact that
they were ill, did not, take the proper pre-
cautions that would have been taken had
it been known that the men were sick. The
water here could not have been infected
with typhoid fever germs before the troops
arrived here, as 1t is necessary for the water
to be contaminated with the dejecta of a
typhoid fever patient before 1t becomes in
fected This being the case, the talk about
the previous unhealthfulneSS of the water
courts for naught..
Dr. Craig is even more emphatic than DR..
Carroll regarding the recklessness of the
soldiers themselves, and gives it as his opin-
ion that fully two-thirds of the sickness at
Chickamauga Park was due to that cause.
He says 1.-The men ate and drank almost
anything that came along, and, result,
they would become ill., The sinks were
neglected. and typhoid fever, from a few
cases, was propagated throughout the
camp. IF the sanitary rules recommended
by the surgeons had been properly carried
out" says Dr. Craig, 1.-The hospitals at
Chickamauga Park would never have had
the amount Of sickness to contend with that
has prevailed here for the past several
weeks In the light of these reports it is
impossible to escape the conclusion that as
far as human agencies go, much the great
est part of the responsibility for sickness
in the camps rests on regimental officers.
volunteer surgeons and the. men themselves.
The public now has an opportunity to see
how the lying special correspondent meets
the demand of his employers. He was at
Lexington. XIV. on the occasion of the visit