Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-12-19
SMALLPOX IN PHILADELPHIA


fhiiauelYn|l Longer. Dec. lpth
Nearly l,O00 persons have been
stricken with smallpox in this city
since the outbreak, and OF these ~
have died. The recyrd Of new cases
was broken lass week, l25 having been
reported. JI more than the previous
week. and l2 mo-e than the one before
that. According to the authorities,
3i9 persons are today suffering from this
lohthsome disease. An alarming feature
OF the reports nj last week is the state
ment that smallEoS ia now in practically
every section CT the city; mat IL Is 70
longer confined chiefly to the Twenty
eighth and cont guous wards.
1t is 10 omprehensih why the
Bureau OF Hea th is averse to making
er ioemic. The CHIEF and his ass ST.
anita, surely reaii1e that q policy OF
partial silence must hamper them in
the etfcrts - stamp out the diseass.
IL - Unly oy recurring the earnest CO
operation Of the public that they can
do this quickly a d Ell, ctively. The
mere giving cut OF figures OF new cases
and deaths week y Is no. enough il is
but a hall confdene ttat cannot
awaken the Ieople 10 full comfre-
hension OF their peril. The policy of
sending phys clans from house TO house
With offers of free vaccination in
good on 2, but even tina. is not sufficient.
There are several lires Of action
which should be promptly taken. The
tirst 10 tn make public daily the new
cases, not merely the number, but the
approximate locality. 1he authorities
in Boston. where the diiesse ia g so
raging, realize the iirror Bnce OF this,
ana da ~ bullet ns are given to the
neWsra 'trs after the 70 lowing form
FEe new CAGES If smal pox found 10
Bos on during the 81 hours ending til
morning are IS fol ows:
Married woman, - years, unvac.
cinatid, Waltham street, city.
"SinZle man, 2 years, clerk, On.
vacoina;ed, OLD llaIbo- street. city.
Girl, , years, unvaccinated, Daniel
street. Roxbury."
by this means the people are kent
fully informsd not only OF the progress
OF the d sense. but OF its new points o.
Judgment and the condition of the
patients, whether vaccin lied or DOT.
Tne chief of the Blu eau OF Health has
pronounced aga INST this form OF pub
Lefty on seserai grounds: one is the
extra expense which il Won d entail;
aEother, that many cases reported are
suspicious and rot fully determined,
and, again, it would on all extra labor
on the force. More OF these reasons s
tenable. Tie quest on OF money does
not and carnot enter into the matter
10 any form. The epidsmic of SMALLPOX
must be stamped out. cost what it
may, and in the shortest 81 ace Of time.
There. is no demand for the publica
tion OF undeterm ned cases: it is only
ttose that specifically decided to
be smallpox that need be made public.
with res ect to extri work, that is not
understandable II tie Bureau OF Health
is Itself keeping daily record, rs 1t is
pr sumed to do, and il extra force 10
necessary, then Jet it be employed, but
make rublic all the facts daily.
The vaccination OF eyeay person who
has not undergone that or GRAFTON within
i've years is necessary as oDe Of the
requisites for Kidding the city Of small
FOX. The Bureau of Health in endeay.
Oring to compass this, but there Is
another step OF vital importance which
that body has not taken, namely,
practically universal house d sinfection.
Cleveland, o., has adopted this in
connection with vaccination, with as
tlnish ngly satisfactory results. That
city has generally been regarded as a
hotbed for smallpox, but since univer-
sal disinfection has been employed in
connection with vaccination, the dis.
ease has entirely disappeared. Accord.
ing to the Cleveland Press:
From 1895 to 1901 that city had
2, 75i cases of smallpox, with 10 deaths.
BY years they were divided as follows:
1880, b; 1896, 0; 1897, O; 1898, as;
1892, AIS; 1900, 993; 1901, l,2n. Sen.
TENDER I'd, the last case was reported. p"
Until August LIST there was com
parauVeIy little fumigation except 10
buildings where there hid been cases
OF the disease, but on that date general
fumigstiou was put into force. Whole
neighborhoods where the disease ragged,
moulding some TO-, % housts, were dis.
infected with forma 'dehyde, with the
results stated at the end Of one month,
with force OF from 40 to 60 men.
What was done in Cleveland can surely
be accom- plished here notwithstanding
the former is smaller city in both area
and population.
All the efforts of the Bureau OF Health
to stamp out smallpox have to the
present failed. The number OF new
cases increases weekly with this advance
OF winter, and more heroic methods are
clearly needed. Universal vaccination
and general house fun igation or disin.
feet on are the methods with which 70
rid the city OF smallpox. One means OF
more easily secur ng the former is to
make public daily the new cases, after
the Plan adopted by the Boston authori.
ties.