The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1911-08-18

Philadelphia 1868 deaths and 9721 cases. In
every case the death rate has been terrible, ris-
lhe' IN many instances to several hundred per
100000 population
Inc U. 5. Census Bureau report for 1908 shows
1875 typhoid deaths in the registration area,
and for 1909 there were 1922 deaths-an aver
age OF about II 600 years. The registration
area includes only 81 per cent of the total popu-
lat1on and does not include the South, where the
ypho1d rate is very high. In ten southern states
the average rate has been 70. Twenty
deaths year" says DR.. William Guilfoy, Regis
trar OF Vital Statistics of New York City, would
be very conservative estimate of the total an
nual typhoid mortality Certainly this is con-
servat1ve estimate, for the complete census of
1900 showed 35,379 typhoid deaths that year.
For the sake of being conservative, however, let
us take DR.. Guilfoy's figures. They are large
enough.
The dead, it has long been held, amount to not
more than one-tenth of the total number of those
stricken. But recent studies" to quote Mr..
George c. Whippe, indicate only one death in
Is or IS cases." If allow one death for every
twelve estimate that Dr. Gufoy says
is entirely within the mark-we shall have the
tremendous annual total of about 100000 cases.
Think of it-a quarter of million people yearly
stricken with typhoid!
Recall the largest parade you ever saw-say
one with $4,000 troops in lne-and think how
those serried ranks marched past hour after hOnr
until your eye grew tired of watching them.
Then multiply that parade by ten and imagine
what an enormous army ESQ, 900 persons would
make. That is exactly the size of the army, re-
cruited anew every year, that this country forces
to fght-typhod fever.
Like any other army, this army too costs
money. In this case, though, the cost is IN the
form of economic loss. Statistics compiled by
the Connecticut Board of Health show that ty-
phoid carries people of in the years Of their
greatest earning capacity, Al per cent of the
deaths occurring to persons between the ages Of
20 and 40, and 60 per cent to persons between 10
and 49,
The economic loss thus caused reaches stag
gering total The cost Of the epidemic at Plym-
outh, it is shown by Professor Mason, amounted
to more than $4,000, divided as follows:
Loss Of wages of those who recovered. . $50 .O2O
Cost OF caring for the sick. ........... $1,000
Years earnings of the dead " 1s419
$115539
In making this estimate however, allowance
was made for the loss of only one years earn
ings. An examination of an insurance mortality
table shows that the who dies before he is
forty dies before his time. Hence his death
represents loss. not of one years income, but
of many. Five thousand dollars is the sum at
which life is usually valued in reckoning eco
nomic loss. The typhoid loss is based only on
the number Of those who die AS Mr. George
Whtpple points out, there is an added loss occa-
stoned by non-fatal typhoid illnesses that should
also be taken into account. The average period
of typhoid convalescence, as figured from 500
cases in Pennsylvania hospital, is 43 days.
Hence loss of wages plus cost Of medical at
tendance would easily average $500 for every
person who RECEIVERS. If ten recover for one who
dies, then an extra $1,000 must be added to the
$4,000 allowed for each death, making the total
economic loss caused by every typhoid death
$4,000.
Figured on this basis the loss to many CON-
munities amounts to millions of dollars yearly