The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-03-13
SPOTTED FEVER DEATHS
 NUMBER THIRTEEN
THIS MONTHS RECORD ALARGE
 ONE.

ease Has Proved Eatal-lts Symp-
 toms Discussed by Prominent Physi-
 cIan-QuestiOn as to Whether Con-
 tagious or Not-Prompt Burial of
 Victims.
 The spotted fever epidemic is certain ly on the increase in this city, ana within the last two days four more deaths have taken place from this dis ease. As the dangers from it are great both the local and state boards or health are taking all the steps possible to restrict it. The total number or deaths from this cause so far thls month is thirteen, and this is believed by Registrar of Vital Statistics Carr to be the largest percentage from thls cause in proportion to population or any city in the country. In January or this year there were five deaths from spotted fever, and in February there were eleven. The total for the year so far is therefore twenty-nine. The total deaths from spotted fever for the en- tire year of 1904 was twenty
 The total death rate from all causes this year is also very heavy one. h. January tine total was 200, in February it was 204, and this month So far there have been seventy-six deaths.
 The local board of health is now fum- igating all houses in which deaths from spotted fever occur, just as though it were the most contagious of diseases. Registrar Carr has also advised phy- sicians, in cases of death, to act in ac- eordance with the rules now followed in contagious diseases. The rule is that the body must be first thorough ly tlisinfected with powerful solutions and then be enclosed in an air tight coffin or case dramatically sealed.
 There is vast difference of opinion among the local physicians as to whether cerebro spinal meningitis, or spotted fever as it is called, is con tagious. Some contend that it is not in any way contagious, although most of the prominent ones questioned last evening stated that they thought that if it was contag gious the disease could only be contracted thnrough the pores or breathing parts of the body. The state board of health has been called into consultation with the local health board, and they are studying the con- ditions closely.
 Of the four deaths within the last two days, two have occurred at the Grace hospital on Saturday, one in the same institution yesterday, and the fourth at z Lafayette street yesterday afternoon. The first of these deaths was that of Frank Kongeibl, twenty four years old. The patient was brought to Grace hos pital recently, and had been i'll about ten days. He was one of the three pa tients whom pr. Moore was attending in East Haven. The other two died, and it has been thought that it was while attending these patients that the doctor contracted the disease which resulted in his death.
 Ruth Hanchett of 13 Vine street was taken to Grace hospital on Friday aft ernoon at 4 o'clock, and at 7:3O o'clock the same evening she died. She was five years old. .s u
 Yesterday morning Medical Examiner Bartlett was notified that little child, Domenico Viglior1e, had died suddenly at Lafayette street. He investigated the case and found that the child had only been ill very short time and that | it had been unattended by a physician. ! From the examination of the body the medical examiner thought that it was a case of spotted fever. The body was | buried yesterday afternoon.
 l The fourth death was that of Ray I mond A. Mack, one year and nthree | months old, who died at Grace hospital l yesterday morning. The child has been 1 i'll only five days and was brought to l the hospital from his home at 134 Un
 ion avenue. The, body was quickly l buried in Westville cemetery yesterday 1 afternoon.
 1 Tn addition to the deaths from spot
 ted fever which. have. taken place in | this city this month, there have also l been a number of deaths from the same cause in several of the nearby towns. One of the most prominent doctors in l the state, when asked last evening as
 to the symptoms, stated that the dis
 ease usually commenced with head
 aches and sickness of the stomach, this ! to be followed with convulsions Some times unconsciousress does not come until after the convulsions and sonic- times it starts with the disease. Black spots then appear, generally on the legs | first and then on other parts of the
 body, in many cases under the nails.
 The spots are just under the skin and | vary in size from the head of a pin to 1 the size of ones finger nails. He said l that he did not think it would be DOS
 sible to contract the disease from the
 spots, and that the only way it could
 be contracted, if it were contagious,
 was through the pores or breathing parts of the body, as the nose or mouth. l He thought that there was but little
 chance of catching it except through
 getting the breath from a patient.
 However, he said that there were many
 differences of opinion among medical
 experts as to this. Continuing his
 statement, he said that after the black
 spots appeared, and sometimes before,
 the spinal canal becomes full of pus,
 and that this causes death. He stated
 that one of the forms of the disease
 evidently came from the germs of
 pneumonia.
 Another prominent physician in this
 city stated that, in his opinion, infants
 and old people were not susceptible to