Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1914-06-20
AMERICAN ARMY
CAMP SANITATION
IN OLD MEXICO
Surgeon General Gorgas Tells
Proper Methods to Pursue.
WANT STRONG, SOUND MEN
Sanitary Precautions Which VIII Be
Taken to Safeguard Health of
Troops in Event Of Invasion
of Tropical Country.
BY WILLIAM c. GORGAS,
SURGEON General, U. S. A.

Washington.-In the event of an In
vasion of a sub-tropical country by
our army the sanitary precautions 10
be observed by our troops would be
of supreme Importance. The neglect
Of them might indeed be fatal to the
success of the campaign, just as the
British in 1853 were compelled by dis
ease to withdraw from Cuba after
they had taken Havana. Our precau-
tons must, however, begin at home In
our assembly and concentration
camps. There is no question but that
this will be done, and all sanitary pre-
cautions that military exigency can
permit will be observed in Mexico.
in the war with Spain in 1898 we
were handicapped by lack of training
and experience in camp sanitation.
We had practically no experience In
the tropics. While we had gone into
Mexico in 1916. there was little of
the knowledge then existing of tropi-
cal diseases that has been since &C
cumulated In India. Africa. eastern
Asia and tropical America. Nor did the
memory of what we may have
learned in Mexico come down to us
AZ years later. The great develop
ment of preventive medicine was not
then in a stage convenient for prac-
teal application. The people were
not educated up to its ideas. This
is now all changed and the conditions
under which We may go into tropical
or sub-tropical lands give us consid-
cradle assurance, where before we
went timidly and fearful of conse-
quences.
Two Precautionary Stages.
In any contemplated occupation Of
a country lying partly in the tropics
by an army coming from the temper
ate zone there would be two stages
to consider with reference to the pre-
cautions necessary to the preservation
of the health of such a command
first, the measures required to avoid
the camp diseases" in the homeland
while the troops were mobilizing and
training and, second, the measures re-
quired to avoid the diseases peculiar
to the country to be occupied. 1t may
be added that under the latter circum-
stances there might be camp diseases
in the occupied country. the same as
In the home country.
The first sanitary precaution is to
secure healthy soldiers - physically
sound men. Then 1t is necessary to
cofo0uord than health urbSIa II Train
ing by giving them pure food, water
and healthy camp surroundings and
by preventing the entrance to such
camps of infectious diseases. Our
camps in this country would naturally
be selected with a view to salubrity.
The supply of water must be given
the same care and safeguarding that
the supply of one of our cities re-
ceives. The selection of sites for
large camps of concentration is in
f1uenced to a greater extent by this
one matter than by any other consid-
Grafton but military necessity. In sue
cessfully taking all precautions re-
lating to water we assist in avoiding
typhoid fever and the dysenteries-
the camp diseases of all former wars.
These diseases are also communicated
by foods of some kinds, particularly
the uncooked ones. and milk. Conse-
Quently the sanitary officers must in
spect and examine the water and food,
including milk. with the special pur-
pose of keeping out the diseases thus
transmitted. OF course. as these dis
eases are spread by contact as we'll as
mechanically by flies and possibly 9TH
er insects, such methods OF transmits
sion must be watched for and pre-
vented, principally by the early ex-
clusion of all cases Of these diseases.
The means available to protect the