Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-21
.SERUMFORC|v|L|ANS
Agricultural Department Field
Force to Be lnoculated
AS TYPHOID PREVENTIVE
Official Order an Innovation in Gov
eminent Service.
FOUND EFFECTIVE IN ARMY
Use Among Troops Of This and Other
Countries Proves It Guards
Against Fever.

duced, by official order among the field
force OF the Department Of Agriculture.
This is the first time on record that a
civilian department of the government
has taken such q step. A commission
was appointed by Secretary Wilson con-
sisting of Logan Waller Page, director
Of the bureau Of public roads: DIR. John
Mohler of the bureau Of animal industry,
and DR.. Irwin Smith of the bureau Of
plant industry. Their report deals with
sanitation as a protection against the
disease. but says that owing to the neces-
sity of the field men living in insanitary
communities where 1t is practically i'm
possible to practice sanitary precautions
it is felt that typhoid incubation offers
the only satisfactory means of protec-
ton.
Secretary Wilson in his letter of trans
initial says that the report was prepared
originally merely for the information OF
the employees of the department, but that
the ravages of typhoid are SO general 1t
was decided to make the report public.
The members of the department force
can obtain the treatment by applying to
their bureau chief, who, in turn, will OBJ
tain the anti-typhoid serum from the
surgeon general of the army with direc-
tons for it's use So that it can be ad-
ministered by any competent physician.
protection, Secretary Wilson says that In
one bureau of the department in the past
ten years there have been twenty-eight
cases and five deaths from typhoid.
Results Prove Worth.
The report of the commission, after
describing the common means of COM
municating the disease, says that in the
registration area of the United States
GOO
and $4,000 deaths. In the whole Of the
United States there are about three times
this number In the British army In
India in the course Of twenty years from
1890 there were $3.50 cases and 6484
deaths.
The report says that the system OF
protective incubation has been thoroughly
tested in the past ten years, principally
among the armies of the various powers.
The system was used in the British army
in the Boer war and was a total failure.
there being 81, 6S4 cases and 500 deaths,
but it was discovered later that the
serum used had been prepared In the
wrong way and was valueless. On the
other hand. the serum was used during
the Russo-Japanese war. The Russian
army, which did not use the serum. was
largely incapacitated by typhoid, while in
the Japanese army, where the serum was
used. there were practically no cases at
all.
Recently in the British army in India
typhoid incubation has been practiced
on large scale. 1t has been found that
there were just about ten times as many
cases among the uninoculated as among
the inoculated men. In twenty regiments.
comprising $3.50 inoculated men, there
were sixteen cases and no deaths. Among
1876 non-inOculated men there were sixty
eight cases and fourteen deaths
Good Record in q. s. Army.
Similar striking results in the United
States Army have been obtained In recent
years. Inoculations have been made COM
pulsory, and everybody has been inocu-
| lated, from the Secretary Of War down.
| 1t is a well known fact that previous to
| this typhoid fever caused extensive loss
| in our army, both in our civil war and
| in the Spanish-American war. For ex-
ample, in 1885, in the 7th Army Corps,
stationed at Jacksonville, Fla, consisting
| Of 1O.7J9 men. there were 1.729 undoubted
cases of typhoid fever, and 2,698 addi-
tional eases Of fever believed to be ty-
phoid, making a total Of 4.422 cases, with
24S deaths. In the recent maneuver at
San Antonio. Tex, there were II. SO1 men.
Among these men there was only one
case OF typhoid fever, no deaths. In ad-
dition there were two cases OF typhoid
| Fever among CIVILIAN teamSterS VINO re-
! fused to be inoculated. The one case In
/ the army was q sergeant who received
| only two doses Of the prophylacttc, three
| being the proper number His disease
was SO mild that it was only identified as
typhoid by means of blood cultures. after
| the rule had been established to examine
| all cases Of fever lasting more than forty
eight hours During this period forty
nine cases Of typhoid and nineteen deaths
/ were reported among the citizens OF San
| Antonio. At Galveston, Tex, where
lesser number Of troops were also sta
] toned there were 1872 cases of typhoid
fever among the citizens and not a single
| one among the inoculated soldiers. In
! both San Antonio and Galveston the
troops had large freedom of visiting the
towns, and it is quite certain that cases
| would have developed in the army but
for the NEGOTIATIONS.
| The report includes the statement that
none but perfectly healthy subjects should
be inoculated. In this respect it does not
| agree with the experience among some
| practitioners in Washington, where the
| serum has been used with remarkably
good results in treating the disease after
| II developed. In this case. however, the
| treatment was graduated to suit the re-
sisting capacity Of the patient
Speakership a "Hoodoo."
Aro+har trimming fnstallmant Of 1.-THE