Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-03-20
THE SMALL POx PROBLEM.
There is No Need of so Many People
Having II

ndVlnB II.
Thic dirty disease is getting too pre-
yalent in western Wisconsin. Few peo-
pie are very sick with it, hardly one In
five hundred cases die with il, set 1t is
an expensive disease to have and there
IS no need Of so many people having II.
AT the beginning of an outbreak too
many people are skeptlcai and say IS
not small poX at ali, but simply the
Cuban itch. Such unbelief aids in the
spread of it. When an epidemic breaks
out people say the doctors are trying
to scare them so they can get rieh by
vaccinating everybody Now mighty
few doctors ever get rich The state
compels them to spend four OF the best
years of their lives and many hundreds
ot dollars to get medical education.
1t IS Il ankless work they have to do
and almost every one OF them would
have been richer had he been q shoe
maker or blacksmith or farmer. No,
the doctors are not trying to make
money out of this epidemic and every
one of them will be glad when it IS
over
But the doctors will advocate vacci-
nation as long as small pox exists for
vaccination is a better preventive of
small pox than IL small pox itself. IL
is true that here this winter several
persons, unYaccmated, have had small
pox in a very mild form and suffered
less than some haze from vaccination.
But the milGness of this epidemic is
probably due to the heaithful locality
in which we live DR. VIM. Trowbridge
met a climatologist who told him the
ridge of land between Viroqua and
Prairie du Chen was the best drained
tract in the state. | remember an epi-
demic of scarlet fever in Crawford
county, some two hundred cases with
only one or two deaths; and DIR. Suren-
son spoke of a similar epidemic Vernon
county, even larger number of cases
with hardly any morality. The reason?
We live in one of the most healthful To-
calities on the globe. Our cellars are
dry; our wells are deep and give us the
purest water. Natural small pox is or
was most fatal disease. Under five
years half the cases died; after sixty
hardly any escaped.
Now the greatest objection 10 having
this disease in our midst until the Fourth
of July is the expense. Nearly all its
Tins Sc far are hard working indus
trious men and women, who are willing
and want TO work. This epidemic has
no doubt cost the citizens Of Viroqua a
hundred dollars day since it started
| believe in Iessening the number Of
places of contagion. Is it not easier to
control it in one city hospital or village
hospital than in several dwellings,
Let US not talk of pest house. The
very words send shudder through one
But an infected dwelling house with
trained nurse to preside over it would
be unobjectionable even to the young
Friends could visit the hospital often
and see relatives through the windows
/ visit family daily where, about six
weeks ago, daughter cam down with
natural small pox in a very mild form
and the house wag quar1atlned. In
two or three weeks they went to work
after disinfectior Socn the wife and
younger daughter took the disease
Two weeks later the husband and a
younger daughter came down and are
now sick. Had the first daughter been
removed to a hospital probably the
other four cases would have escaped.
Had these last fonr been vaccinated
they probably would have escaped hav-
ing the small pox, although the remedy
might have been worse than the disease,
as they were not very sick The own
ers of the Eckhart warehouse did a
commendable thing when they request
ed all of their employees to be vacci-
mated and the firm paid the surgeon s
fee.
Vaccination may be shorn of its ter
rors by the proper cleanliness of body.
Before every naval engagement the
Japanese soldiers took bath and put
on clean underclothes If badly wound
ed his wounds healed readily because
germs of disease we're not driven into
the flesh. So before vaccination let
the patient do likewise and he may not
have q very sore arm, for the modern
doctor tells me the vaccine pustule does
not make bad sore the outside germs
and filth do that c. v.P.