Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-02-25
MANY SEIZED BY PEST
PERSONS IN ALL PARTS or THE
UNITED STATES AFFLICTED.
1t Is Claimed that The-e Are $4,000
Cases of the Dread Disease Through
out the Country pid mic Is Alarm
ing in Several States.

Smallpox is more widely spread over
the United States now than ever before
and the disease is Of the deadIiest type
ever known. Conservative estimates.
based upon reports received from the
forty-fiye States, show that at least 30
600 persons in this country are afflicted
with the malady. In some instances ,he
death rate is as high as 80 per cent. The
epidemic is indeed alarming, as, with a
continuation of cold weather, the disease
will thrive and remain unchecked in it's
death-dealing. This is statement
made by Dr. Hemah Spalaing. chief
medical inspector Chicago health depart
ment.
Chicago alone has had eighty-twc,
cases of smallpox brought to the notice
OF the health department already this
year. Twelve of those cases have re-
lted in death. Last year there were
y cases in the city, but they were of
lhe mildest type, only -four persons dy-
ing. From Jan. ! to Feb. 80 last year
there We're only tweuty-four cases in the
isolation hospital. To-day there are
:ifty-one.
The country is full of smallpox. And
of all the cases that have con under tlIe
notice of health officers in / @ var GUS
States nearly every person wing the
disease never was yaccinated. Not one
of the T27 cases of smallpox 'covcted
in Chicago within the last fou years
showed marks of vaccination, as defined
in our pamphlet. Vaccination Creed
which we issued to impart information
concerning the disease to doctors and the
public in general. OF those 727 persons.
662 never had been vaccinated at all
though most of them claimed they had
This aversion TO vaccination is fatal
absurdity. OF the rcmq aiming g. eases
SO had old, irregular and doubtful scars,
said to have been the result of ya2cina-
ton.
Vaccination should be repeated until
the susceptibility to vaccine is exhaust
ed. When this is done it is impossible
to contract smallpox. This is the pro-
lection given the employees of the health
department who handle and nurse small
pox patients, and bury the dead from
the disease, and in 10 instance, among
the hundreds so employed, has any one
of these employees ever contracted small
pox'
Reports show that there is hardly a
town big enough to appear on the map
that has no smallpox cases In San
Francisco to-day there ar, sixty cases.
Other cities of California have all the
way from two to ten. and some Of them
twenty. Denver has thirty-seven, while
nearly every town in Colorado has its
smallpox case. Some reports say that
the disease is more prevalent in Indiana
and Minnesota, but Dr. Spalding says
this is not the fact. For instance, In
diana is given 5000 easns and Minnesota
twice that number.
The natural Inference that the cpl
demic centers in these two States is
erroneous said DIR. Spalding, for this
reason: Those two States merely have Il
more thorough system of getting reports
from the town and city health officers,
hence their statistics are more complete.
Illinois is credited only with Ill cases.
Now, anyone familiar with the present
smallpox epidemic knows those figures
are incomplete. Iowa is given only about
100 cases of smallpox by the reports at
hand"