The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-10
SCIENCE AND EPIDEMIcs.
How the Recent Outbreak of Cholera
 in Egypt Was Controlled.

New York Times.
 That modern sanitary science is equal to any emergency. provided the oas'c principle of following an outbreak or disease to it's source be observed. was proved in the recent outbreak of cholera at Cairo. Egypt. There the first case ap peared on July B in a quarter favorable to the spread of the scourge. The sanita- rians were able, by adopting methods that have the countenance and indorss- ment of modern sanitarians of the ad- vanced Elass, to check its spread within four days, prevent it from reaching AL andria, Port Said, Damietta and Rosetta, on the Mediterranean and Suez, and to determine beyond peradventure the origt7 of the disease in the initial case
 Dr. Alvah H. Doty, health officer Of this port and ex-officio a member or the Board of Health of this city, has receiv- ed from Cairo some interesting informa- tion in regard to the outbreak of cholera there and the way the peril was handled His correspondent is an English scientist. one of many with whom Dr. Doty con- ferred when he went to Europe to study contagious diseases with view Of pro- tecting not only New York, but the United States, and the letters are two of a series for the sending of which Dr. Doty arranged. The first letters says, in part:
 "The present unfortunate outbreak of Asiatic cholera in Egypt commenced suddenly a few days ago in an obscure village, Mousha by name, situated in upper Egypt, about ten miles distant from the important town of Assiut. Mou- sha, being some miles away from the Nile depends for its drinking water on a lot of wells which were found to con- tain millions of cholera germs. The news that nearly one hundred cases of cholera had broken out at Mousha came as a sagreeable surprise one day from the capital. The acting director general Of the sanitary department. Dr. Graham. started immediately for Mousha, with a large staff The wells were at once con- demned and sealed. and a cordon was placed around the village. but not soon enough to prevent the exodus to Cairo of one native woman. She arrived at the capital on July 22 and died of cholera the day afterward.
 'This happened in the Boulac part of Cairo. close to the Nile. This quarter Is so densely populated and so disgustingly filthy that description is beyond words. On the immediate bank of the river is Ghezireh, the fashionable outskrt of the capital. On the 24th of July four new cases os cholera were reported, and on
 
 six new cases, though the cases of the 2eth are considered exaggerated. The deaths average 70 per cent. On the 27th there were fewer eases. viz. fifty-two, f which one was that of an English lady. On the 18th there were only seven new cases. which is most reassuring and seems to prove that thanks to the ener- getic and untiring labors of the officials attached to the sanitary department. there is every nope of the disease being stamped out sooner than was expected.
 The authorities have no doubt taken the matter vigorously in hand and are working bravely and well to combat the outbreak At the same time one cannot be too sanguine once the disease has talk sn root in such quarter as Boulac, and 1t is only natural to expect that some weeks will pass before the epidemic is quite wiped out. Of course there Is always the almost certain hope of the disease dis appearing as soon as the hot weather Is over. The village of Mousha, where the cholera originated. has about 10000 inha5- itants, mostly natives
 The second letter says:
 'The epidemic of cholera in Egypt has not made much if any progress, but on the other hand 1t has not decreased in any way. There is one satisfactory thing to consider-that the authorities seem to have got the disease well under control, and that, in spite of the excessive hot weather and abnormally low Nile and everything to encourage the propagation or the illness cholera Is not spreading as on previous outbreaks, but at present confines itself to Cairo and upper Egypt only There Is. unfortunately, a sad feature of the official bulletin, viz: the great number of deaths, which has risen to over s5 per cent. The epidemic of 1896 was principally confined to Old Cairo,