The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-05-16
Why Should Florida
Have Typhoid?

The state board of health bulletin fol
May says:
Why should the people of Florida
have typhoid fever when they dont
have to have it?
1t isn't compulsory; it is prevent
able. In its source, its nature and its
q method of transmission 1t is disgust
ing, even to the point of being naus-
eating, yet victims who might be saved.
The doctors and sanitists, standing
like sentinels to point the way to health
and safety, are forced to see the dis
ease choosing whom it will among
those VINO might have been rescued, If
they would. It's sad, pathetic, mourn
: ful-a careless, wantOn. wicked waste
of life. It's not suicide only because
1t isn't a deliberate seeking of death,
but the case would be a parallel If
man were to walk among exploding
dynamite after being warned Of its To-
cation.
The source of typhoid fever is the
person suffering from the disease. The
method of transmission Is by the
transference Of the typhoid germs from
the patient to the prospective victim.
These germs pass from the body
principally in the excavations of the
intestines. Sometimes, though not
often, the disease is transmitted by
the feet of flies and they are left wher-
ever the flies alight. Those that make
the trouble are the germs that are left
by flies In the food which we eat-we
eat 1t If we don't know any better
and once again in the Intestinal tract
OF another human being, the chances
are good for another funeral.
4 The most efficient weapon against
typhoid is prevention. II is q thou
sand times more efficient than cure,
for prevention Is about that many
times less problematic than cure. The
steps in TIL" line of prevention are nu-
merous. First, prevent the flies from
reaching the faecal matter from the
stools of the patient; next prevent flies
from reaching food. next, as an addi-
tional precaution, wash thoroughly all
food that is not to be cooked. and all
the time and everywhere kill the fly.
Destroy his breeding places in the
stable, in the manure pile and in other
filth.
The screen for Florida is neces-
sary means to salvation. Screen the
earth closet, screen the pantry, screen
the porch and screen them with the
full conviction that such screening is
not a luxury but life saver.
We know that milk is frequently
vehicle Of infection. We know that
water mas much to do with the dis
semination OF typhoid, from the fact
that cities in Europe, where the water
supply is perfect seldom number their
typhoid cases above ten for each one
In American cities the rate is not
usually above twenty in each one hun
dred thousand. while IN cities where
the water is impure, this rate goes
from ten to twenty times as high.
There is another menace In the fact
that about two and One-half per cent
Of those who contract typhid fever
live to become germ carriers, that is.
after they recover from the disease it
self, they continue TO carry and after
its germs for an indefinite period TO
infect others.
From these facts il IS evident that
this danger turks constantly and
unsupported on all sides to menace
public health, and from its insidious
nature, no person can be absolutely
safe from its attack. excepting by un-
reIenting watChfulness and care
There Is much evidence TO prove
that some individuals are more sus-
ceptible 10 the disease than are others
and that for them extraordinary pre-
cautions are imperative for escape
But while all sorts of prevention in
the line OF sanitation help to check
the disease, the real victory over II