Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1903-03-28
FOR PRESIDENT:
HON. A. P. GORMAN,
OF Maryland.
MARYLAND AND MALARIA.

A statement was made to the
Morning Herald that Baltimore
was the most malarial city in
the United States. Coupled
with it was the charge that the
reason Maryland did not re-
ceive more settlers was because
malaria prevailed to an alb
normal extent in the greater
part of its area. In various
forms and degrees these accusa-
tions against Baltimore and
Maryland are made and pub
lished. They do harm. not
withstanding that they are I'M
true. In order to obtain the
exact facts the Morning Herald
put the matter before DIR. John
5. Fulton, the very capable sec
rotary of the state board of
health, and we direct the atten-
ton of everyone to his reply,
which follows:
Baltimore in former days
was often said by her own
citizens to be a "malarial" city,
but | never heard before that
Baltimore is the most malarial
city in the United States. Some
of the best studies ever made in
America on the subject of
malaria have been made in
Baltimore. The material for
study is not abundant, but the
special students are here. So
far as the disease is concerned
these studies could have been
made just as well in New York
or Boston, and in many South
ern and Western cities material
for such studies is vastly more
abundant.
The figures of the United
States census for 1900 show
that out of every 1000 deaths
reported in each of the follow
ing four cities there were
charged TO malaria in New
Orleans %, in st. Louis ~, in
Boston g, in Baltimore 5. The
whole number of deaths
charged to malaria in the four
cities was as follows: New
Orleans 227, st. Louis 1874.
Boston 81, Baltimore IS.
Ask any up-to-date physician
if he believe that fifty-eight
persons ever died i'm Baltimore
in any year from malaria, and
he will tell you that in this city
of 100000 inhabitants there is
not enough malaria to kill fifty
people in twenty-five years. l
have seen in my professional
life but two deaths from ma
laria, both sailors who were
infected in the West Indies.
Here, and in Boston also, the
death rate from malaria rep
resents an ancient delusion
which clings to the minds of a
few half-educated physicians.
The deaths are really due to
causes which the doctors fail to
recognize.
In Maryland, outside of Balti-
more, malaria claims a rank
among causes of death equal to
that of Boston, six i'm each one
thousand deaths. Malaria is.
however, a cause of sickness i'm
several parts of Maryland.
These areas are pretty well
known, and correspond to the
distribution of the anopheles
mosquito. Two such areas are
found within twenty miles of
Baltimore city, and practically
all the cases which form the
basis of the excellent studies
made here came from one or
the other of these two areas.
There is no profit, however.
in comparing Maryland with
other states, nor any satisfac-
ton in the evidence that we
have less malaria than our
neighbors. The death records
seem to give us a decided adj
vantage, but in Maryland and
everywhere else along the At
lantic coast, throughout the
Mississippi belt, and on the
Gulf coast, malaria is an i'm
portant cause of sickness, and
ought to be treated as a prob
lem in public hygiene.
JOHN S. FULTON.