New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-31
THOSE CONCEALED TYPHOID CASES.

THOSE CONCEALED TYPHOID CASES.
The concealment Of those half dozen or more
cases OF typhoid fever among the employees on
the Cross River Dam is the most Teprehensible
and most oniinous feature of the whole outbreak
al Ka.onah With the manner OF disposal of the
cases no fault is TO be found apart from its Sc
crecv II was doubtless we'll to remove the pa
tients Immediately from that place and put them
INTO hospitals. so that there would be no dan
ger Of their being sources Of further infection.
1t may be. also. that the most prompt and thor
ough measures were taken for the disinfectiOn
Of all things which might have been cOntam'
mated by them before their removal and to
stamp out the disease in that camp. though of
this we should like TO have fuller assurance 1t
may further he argued that there prac
tically no danger of the communication of ty-
phOid To this city from those patients through
the water supply. seeing that typhoid bacilli do
not increase and multiply in water and that
any morbid discharges from those half dozen
men, if they got into the river, would have been
diluted in hundreds of millions of gallons of
water before reaching this city, so that the
proverbial needle in a haystack would have been
aggressively conspicuous in comparison with
those few germs in that vast flood.
All these things, however. are apart from the
real issue which was that of deliberate conceal
ment OF the presence of highly infectious and
dangerous disease and the making of direct
misrepresentation concerning the sanitary con-
dition Of the place. When The Tribune ascer-
talning in advance of the New York Water and
Health commissioners that typhoid existed on
the banks of the Cross River, made inquiry con-
corning the health Of the workmen on the dam.
1t was met with the assurance that there had
been no typhoid there and only few cases Of
grip and pneumonia-thOugh at that very mo-
IN fhpPn YVpPp a York hOGOif9l tVDlOid
patients who had been sent down from that very
camp. When the Health Commissioner. acting
upon The Tribunes information, went thther
TO investigate sanitary conditions he was told
that the health OF the workmen was perfect
though AT that very time there had been at leas:
half dozen cases of typhoid fever among them.
When local physicians and others interested in
the health of Katonah began to search for the
source of the outbreak which was affecting that
village they were met with denial that single
case had occurred at the dam-thOugb, as a
matter Of fact. half n dozen cases had occurred
there before any occurred in the village. In this
city concealment Of or failure to report the exist
ence of a case Of an infectious or contagious
disease is a penal offence. We cannot see that
it should he more lightly regarded elsewhere.
THE citizens are all anxious 10 do what they
can and 10 know what to do said representa-.
tive man at KatOnah a few days ago. but the
thing is obscure that we are quite at loss"
They would not have been at such a loss nor
have been so helpless before the dreadful vista
ton if they had been promptly informed weeks
before that typhoid had broken ont in the Ital-
ian labOUers' camp just outside their village and
in close proximity to the chief dairy farm which
supplies the village with milk. If the village
physicians were not called to treat the patients
at the camp they could have no knowledge Of
their illness or its nature. II any local phys-
clan or official. or even private citizen did know
Of those cases, or knew Of any suspicious cases
of illness at the dam, it was extraordinary that
he permitted the rest OF the village to remain in
Ignorance If those in authority at the dam de
lberately concealed the outbreak from the local
health officer, they were guilty Of a wrong which
no care and energy Of theirs in trying TO stamp
out the pestilence can palllate We have said
that the chances Of communication of the dis
ease directly TO New York were infnitesimaI
But If through any neglect the disease should be
allowed TO spread on the watershed the possible |
consequences 10 the city are beyond computation.
Moral responsibility in the matter cannot be
shirked, and we should hope legal responsibility
could not either. Granted that this city has
escaped the disease the village Of Katonah has
not, and if, as the sequence of dates suggests is
quite possible and not improbable the Katonah
outbreak proceeded wholly or in part from the
officials or somebody connected with Its public
works-is responsible for that lnfilctlon upon the
village. New York has often complained. and
not without reason, that rural dwellers In the
CrotOn region are careless of the purity of the
water. But If those people ought not to defle
the citys water supply, the city on its part GER
tRinly ought not TO plant pestenta colonies in
those villages, or If disease breaks ont in n
labor camp, 1t ought not to permit the fact TO
be concealed, but should insist upon it's imme-
dlate announcement to the local authorities, in
order that they may be on guard over the health
Of the village. We do not yet know surely-we
trust we shall very sOOn-precisely who was re-
spOnsible for the concealment of those cases
from either the KatOnah or the New York au-
thoritles When 1t is remembered that the ter
rtble epidemic at ithaca was due to Just such
Infection from a labor colony on the watershed.
the need OF extreme vigilance and the heaviness
OF responsibility for any conceaIment at the be-
ginning Of trouble are manifest