The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-09-22
hSlATIC CHOLERA.

The outbreak of cholera at Manila is
very unfortunate. in view of the fact
that the Atlantic fleet is now on it's
way to that port While every effort is
being put forth by the authorities to
prevent a general epidemic. the dis
ease is slowly spreading in the sub
| urbs and il would not be surprising if
many deaths occur before il is finally
checked. 1t is possible. also that the
Asiatic scourge may be imported into
| this country. as two cases were discov-
cred on board the transport Sheridan.
now en- route to San Francisco. though
the vessel was thoroughly fumigated
and given a clean bill of health.
The situation at St. Petersburg. Rus
STA. is appalling. from Saturday noon
until Sunday noon 191 deaths having
occurred, while there were 39S new
cases. The indications are that the dis
ease will get beyond control al the Rus
sian capital and that the harvest Of
death viii be great before cold weather.
sets in.
According to the books, the home of
the genuine Asiatic cholera is in India
whence all its great epidemics have or
| iginated The first outbreak OF which
| there is an accurate record occurred in
/ 1917 and the disease first appeared in
/ Europe In epidemic form i'm 1S30-32,
since which time there have been a
number of epidemics, that of 1856 being
especially noteworthy There were Sc
we're outbreaks in Russia, France, Italy
and the city of Hamburg In 1892, and
last year Russia was again visited The
disease has appeared i'm epidemic pro-
portions in the United States a num-
Der of times. the outbreaks of 1882, 1S49
1854 and 1866 being notable examples.
Indeed, cholera has made its appear
ance upon our shores several times
since the last mentioned date, but ow-
ing 10 sanitary measures taken, the loss
of life was not heavy.
| Cholera proceeds from place to place
along beaten lines of travel The dis
ease was first reported in Russia in
July and moved down the Volga river
and both coasts of the Caspian sea- I'M
til now ii covers a wide expanse of
territory. The disease is produced by
a bacillus. the existence of which was
demonstrated by Koch in 1888. and is
not purely contagious. That is, the
disease is not transmitted by mere as
ISOLATION. Poison from a patient does
not become disseminated by the air and
wind. the infection coming from the
drinking water which the germs have
entered
| The treatment of the disease has been
proved to be of little Importance COM
pared with the prevention. The more
unsanitary the surroundings the more
quickly the disease spreads and the
greater the mortality. This is the main
reason why Russia is such a frequent
sufferer from the scourge and also
why there is great danger that il will
not readily be stamped out in the Phil
ippines. more especially at Manila.
where the lower classes live in filthy
places and the population is more or
less consested.
Should the cholera reach San Fran
cisco by means OF the transport Sheri-
dan. II is hardly probable that it would
cause the least bit of excitement. for
the minute the case was noted all the
precautions known to medical and san
ltary science would be put into opera
ton and the disease kept from spread
ing. Should the sailors on board the
vessels of the Atlantic fleet become IN
fected it would be much more serious
| matter.