Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-12-07
CAUSES WHICH led TO
EPIDEMIC Of TYPHOID
AMONG SOLDIERS IN AMERICAN
CAMPS DURING THE SPAN
ISH WAR.
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION
ERAL TO DISCOVER CAUSES AND
SUGGEST REMEDIES.

| WASHINGTON, Dec 6. - Surgeon
General Sternberg made public to-day
a report upon the origin and spread of
! typhoid fever in the United States
military camps during the Spanish war
| OF 1898, prepared at his instance by
board consisting of Major Walter
Reed, surgeon, U. S. A, Major Victor
C. Vaughan, division surgeon, U. S. ",
and Major Edward 0. Shakespeare, bri-
gade surgeon, U. S. V. The surgeon gen
| eral prefaces the report by calling at
tention to the vast amount OF work
| the medical corps was called upon to
perform during the war, in order to
cope with the tremendous increase of
the army in the field, and comments
| upon the widespread prevalence of ty-
i phoid in 1898, 10000 cases of this dis
ease appearing among the troops en-
! camped within the limits of the United
States from May to September of that
year.
A general summary of the conclusion
reached by the board indicates that
during the Spanish war every regiment
constituting the First, Second, Third,
| Fourth, Fifth and Seventh army corps
developed typhoid fever, this being
true of both the volunteer and regular
commands More than 80 per cent. of
the volunteer regiments are shown
| to have developed typhoid.
Within Eight Weeks
after going into camp and the fever
| developed also in certain of the regular
regiments within three to five weeks
after the tents went up. Typhoid be-
| came epidemic in all camps, large and
small, north and south, and was found
to be so widely distributed in this
country that one or more cages are like
| ly to appear in any regiment within
| eight weeks after assembly, whether on
| the march or stationary. 1t is also
stated that, with typhoid fever as wide
| ly disseminated as it is in this country,
| the chances are that if regiment of
800 men should be assembled in any
section and kept in a camp having the
most perfect sanitary conditions, one or
more cases of the fever would develop.
| Nevertheless it was found that many
commands during the war were un-
| wisely located, that the space Allotted
TO regiments was in some instances,
entirely inadequate and that many reg
| iments were allowed to remain on one
site too long.
There were regiments at Chicka-
manga which
Did Not Move Tent
| from the time of their arrival in May
to their departure late in August. Re-
| quests for changes in location mado ''v
medical officers, on account of the llAit
condition of the camps in question,
were not always granted. In some in
| stances camps were set up in the face
of earnest protests from medical Off
GERS, who protested against the sanitary
unfitness of the sites selected. The
camps became very filthy in general, it
is stated, and line officers are thus held
responsible to some extent for the I'M
sanitary conditions that developed. In
this connection the board suggests that
that greater authority be given medical
officers in questions relating to the hy-
giene of camps.
| The board condemns in general the
! methods of disposing of the excre-
tons of the human body and fecal
matter, holding that lack of proper
| facilities in this respect was in large
measure responsible for the prevail
ence of the fever in the camps.
Where water carriage cannot be Sc
cured in permanent camps, it is sug-
gested that all fecal matter be disin-
fected. and then carted away from the
camp and the board has made a spe-
cial recommendation that galvanized
iron troughs containing milk OF lime
be utilized for this purpose.
Infected Water was Found
to be an unimportant factor in the
spread of typhoid in the national en-
campments Of 1898 At Chickamauga,
Jacksonville, Camps Alger and Meade,
contaminated water is stated to have
played but a small part in the water
supply, however, facilities for the ster-
ilization Of water for troops in the
field are recommended.
Flies, which swarmed over infected
focal matter in the camp pits, are be-
lieved to have been transmitters of ty-
phoid bacillus. 1t has been conclu-
siyely settled that a company badly
infected with typhoid cannot rid it
I self of the infection by simply chang
ing its location, as it carries with it
the specie agents OF the disease in the
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