Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1901-11-29
THE SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC
IS GENUINE AND SHOULD BE so TREATED.
The Importance of Vaccination and Some Sta
tistics on the Subject To the Past SO Years
of Vaccination is Due the Mildness OF the
Present Epidemic Some Precautions to Be
Observed.

The following is from Bulletin No.
2. State Board of Health, now in
press, by permission of the author,
DR. H. d. Holton:
An eruptive disease has been pre-
yailing all over North America for the
last three years. All observers are
agreed that it is communicable. 1t
has been called chickenpox, pseudo
smallpox, Cuban itch, Philippine itch,
and various other names. Statements
have been made that it was intro
duced by soldiers returning from
Cuba The fact is, that this disease
was prevailing, to considerable eX-
/ tent, in the southern and western
states before war was declared with
Spain.
At the beginning of the last cen
/ fury smallpox was regarded as the most
terrible disease known. forty per cent
of those attacked dying, while those
who recovered were disfgured for life
and many left blind. The question
/ has been asked. how can this appar-
entity mild disease be the same that
/ for centuries devastated the race: In
/ reply, it may be said, that it has for
long time been fully recognized that
/ in all communicable diseases there are
epidemics in which all cases are of an
! extremely mild character; however,
another and better reason for the
mildness of this disease at this time
has been pointed out by DIR: Hyde,
who says THE mildness of the pres
ent epidemic of smallpox can be ac-
counted for nationally only on the
basis of the very general practice our
ing the last fifty years of vaccination
of our people Instead of being as
founded at the result we should greet
it with a degree of satisfaction; 1t IS
the fruit of century OF progress:
The mildness of the cases of this DIS
ease everywhere, South or North, East
or West, has been the cause of fire.
auent errors in diagnosis The most
frequent error has been for the mex
perienced practitioner to call 1T chick
enpox. - Dr. WEIGH, in an article con,
tributed to the Philadelphia Medical
Journal, page 973, Volume 4, well
saws: Considering the rare oppor-
tunity of late years for physicians TO
study smallpox clnically. and the un-
precedented mildness of the disease at
the present time, am not surprised
at the frequent errors in diagnosis.
W e know lnt young pHt 81 on ~
his life work with no other knowledge
Of smallpox than that which he has
derived from books or the dldactlc
lecture. " Those who have not had
clinical experience with smallpox
should read with care what such au-
thors as Allbutt, Hyde, Osler, Welch,
and others of large. practical expert
ence say of mild. discrete or modified
smallpox. All of these authors de-
scribe the different varieties of varlola
as exhibited by the appearance OF
only a few pustuleS or of only slightly
flattened. not unbilicated pustules,
abOrted pustules, horned or conlcal
crusts which are thrown off and leave
the skin in practically normal condl-
ton. In ditferentiating between chick :
en- box and mild smallpox, IL should
be borne in mind that chlckenpoX Is
essentially disease of early life,
occurring almost exclusively in infants
and Young children, very rarely al
fecting youths and adults, some OBJ
servers saving never. That the
eruptive symptoms appear as sllghtlE
Redeemed blotches which rapidly be-
come waterv blisters without having
exhibited the elevated, firm, shot-llke
masses in the skin. The eruption APP
pears first on the protected rather
than. as in smallpox, on the unpro-
tected surface of the body, and IN sue
cessive crops, blisters. and crusts be
ing present at the same time, and that
in from two to four days the eruption
and disease are at an end. The yerdlc;t
of those of largest experience IS Well
expressed by Hyde when he says, The
prevalent epidemic is one of smallpox
To refuse to accept this fact is TO be
, guilty of egregious folly and to com
: nit dangerous blunder. - At the last
|, meeting of the American Medical AS
sociation Joint session of the Sec
tions on Practice of Medicine, lily,
piene and Sanitary Science, was held
> after full discussion of the wide
spread eruptive epidemic which has
prevailed for the last two or three
wears. the following resolution was
adopted with only dissenting vote;
Resolved, That the disease now pre-
- vailing extensively in the United
States and called in some instances
pseudo smallpox, is genuine small
pox, and should be so treated with
vaccination, and quarantined by all
! health authorities y
This action by eminent medical men
who have had opportunities VI opoIi
= ing not only the present epidemic, but
r those of previous years, when the
e disease was apparently much more
malignant, ought to settle the question
| as to the nature of the present cpl
: demic. Not since 1872 has smallpox
0 been so prevalent in every section OF
the country as at the present time
: hence we would urge the importance
of vaccination and revaccination upor
the people of the state.
In order to emphasize the impor'
> lance of vaccination and its great pro
tective power, we give in this number
of the Bulletin, in connection witt
i the paper of DIR. McCollum, fa'
J smile reproduction of the report OF th'
9 Boston board of health in 1902. We als'
d call attention to some statistics bear
). ing upon the subject. :, =.
There occurred annually in the cit.
: of London from III to 1850, prior t
: the introduction of vaccination, o,O2'
+ deaths from smallpox among every NIL
lion of the population; from 1901 t.
1910 after the introduction of Vaccln