New-York tribune., 1905-08-10
TYPHOID ATTACK HERE.
NUMBER OF CASES LARGE.
Darlington Says Poor Water Supply
Is the Cause.

Health Commissioner Darlington's plea for an
adequate system Of water filtration was empha-
sized yesterday, wnen he and other ofhclals Oh
the Department of Health declared that the city
now experiencing the beginning cf severe
two months siege of typhoid fever. Attacks OF
this sort come to the city periodically. Three
years ago there many cases. The follow
ing two years saw falling off in the number
Three years ago there 765 deaths among
3ST1 cases. In 1903 there We're Gas deaths out
of 36T1 cases and last year 661 out of 3,412
cases.
The death rate this year from typhoid is in
about the same ratio as last year Up to Au-
gust there had been 1876 cases and 305
deaths-20 per cent In Manhattan there had
been AIS cases to July l and 112 deaths to Au-
gust >. In Brooklyn there had been 331 cases
to July l, and 100 deaths up to August ,. In
proportion to the population. there are many
more cases and many more deaths in Brooklyn
than elsewhere The cases reported in this city
since July / show a gradual increase. The num-
Der of cases will increase until the end of Sep
tember. it is expected
The portions of Brooklyn which are particu-
lary subject to typhoid are north of Broadway
and lower South Brooklyn, including Borough,
Lefferts and Bay Ridge parks, Blythebourne,
Bensonhurst and Bath Beach.
Regarding the increase in the number of
typhoid fever cases, DIR. Darlington said yester-
day:
This increase in typhoid is not an epidemic by
any means. Typhoid is a germ disease, but the
germs are not breathed in with the air. They
must be taken in with the drinking water, with
milk with some other food The experiences
OF other cities show well enough the chief means
of injecting. In the wards of Philadelphia, for
instance, where the water is filtered typhoid
has almost wholly disappeared; while in the
wards where the water is not filtered. or where
the filtered and unfiltered mixed great num-
berS of cases reported.
1 know that some of my say that milk
carries many germs, but don't believe it. Ex-
the water is almost solely responsible for
typhoid At Santiago at the time of the Span
ish-American. war it was discovered that flies
were responsible for many cases They carried
the typhoid germs on their feet
The typhoid cases are in the hands of DR.. H.
NJ Biggs, medical officer of the department
and DR.. J. S. Billings. chief of the division of
I communicable diseases. DR.. Billings said yes
terday:
The number of of typhoid in Manhattan
so far this year is not much greater than last
year. Typhoid comes in waves We had bad
year three years ago, and will have a bad
year this year. I believe that many cases of
typhoid are contracted through the use of in
fected milk. Flies from cesspoOls and oysters
| fattened in the sewage along the shore of the
| sea are also responsible for some.
In Bath Beach and Bensonhurst there are
| many driven wells which may be infected from
the, cesspools large number. of cess
pools there cleaned out onto the fields a
| short time ago. One cf the chief sewers in the
| section frequently backs up at high tide and
| distributes its contents about the streets
Many persons doubt get typhoid while
! bathing. A large sewer empties near by. and a
| few drops of water from it is enough 10 inocu-
| late most persons OF course, persons in good
| physical condition able to take in several
| thousand typhoid germs and suffer no i'll effect
| but the persons who down in health fall
| ready prey to them
! We are hindered in our efforts to curb the
| disease by the doctors of Brooklyn, who will
! not report cases Tomorrow going to
! make a house to house inspection through the
| 30th Ward for persons sick from typhoid
! and will do everything to restrict the
! spread of the disease