Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-21
DR.. SoMERS ON SMALLPOX
Omaha Physician Defends Action Of
Nebraska State Board of
Health.

OMAHA. March 2o.-To the Editor Of The
Bee: The fact that the State Board OF
Health had a special meeting at Lincoln
on March II. the governor, attorney gen.
eral and superintendent of education being
present, seems to have excited quite a lit
tie adverse criticism in Omaha. The facts
of the situation are these:
Smallpox has been epidemic in this coun-
try for more than three years; there Is
more of It this winter than ever before; In
many localities 1t is assuming a more viru-
lent type than In previous years. The
prospects, are that this epidemic will con-
tinue for years to come unless the most
energetic measures are adopted to eradi-
cate 1t. And 1t is possible that 1t will be-
come more ~virulent in the years to come
than 1t is now. The measures for prevent
ing an extension OF this scourge and bring
about it's determination are isolation, vac
cination and disinfection, but these meas
ures In order to be effective must be
| thorough. The mildness Of the epidemic
has made II extremely dtnicult for
health boards to effectively convince
people Of the Importance Of the meas
ures that they are endeavoring to adopt for
the suppression OF the disease. At present
DR.. Reynolds of Chicago, the most efhcient
health oficer in the west, IS making ex-
| traordinary efforts to eradicate the disease
by extending his field Of operations over the
country traversed by tine railroads centei-
ing In Chicago. This, too. at a time when
the number Of cases OF smallpox in Chicago
lie less than 10 per cent as great as In the
| city Of Omaha. other cities and states are
Joining with Chicago in this move and our
own state board has been taking steps in
the same direction, the latest move being
to ask the United States Marine hospital
service to send an expert inspector here 10
see what aid we can get In Graduating the
disease. He has been asked to come to
Lincoln, the object being to Investigate the
situation In the state. In this investiss-
ton, II they comply with our request.
Omaha will doubtless be considered as a
part of the state, but not the only point for
investigation by any means. The State
Board of Health has a desire to be of as
slstance to Omaha the same as to other
towns and cities, but It's desire to bs Of
service has been misiAteFpfeted and its
communications consigned to the waste
basket.
A few words regarding the situation in
Omaha. learned from DR.. Ralph per-
sonally March II that the number Of new
cases In January was 1ss, In February 1877,
for the first half OF March 90. and yet we
have seen and heard a good deal during
the last ten days about the abatement of
smallpox in Omaha. I most earnestly hope
that the sanguine anticipations of our
health ofhcers are about to be realized and
that there will be a decided falling on in
the number Of cases from now on, but l
see nothing In the figures up to March
le to warrant any such expectations. We
hear a great deal about importations and !
do not know how this can be avoided alto
gether, but we hear but little about ex-
portations, when as a matter Of fact
Omaha is a distributing center for small
pox and has been for the past three
months, many more cases being distributed
to other towns from Omaha than come to
Omaha from other towns.
A.. b. soMERs.