The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-05-09
SAYS fever IS
NOT A MENACE
TO OUR TROOPS


5 Detroit. Mich, May s,-Should wal
come. experiences of soldiers in the
Spanish Amercina war. when thou
sands died from disease i'm the trench
es while facing the enemy without a
chance To fight. will not be repeated;
and, with conditions reversed. due To
the progress of medical science i'm
preventing disease and the progress
of the military art, i'm finding new
methods of dealing with. more soldiers
will die from bullets than from dis
ease was the statement made by Mai.
George II. Palmerlee, Of the medical
corps of the Michigan National Guard.
Seen in his office. 4lo Washington
Arcade Mai. Palmerlee, who served
i'm the Cuban campaign as a surgeon,
related the progress in sanitation and
prevention of disease through Vacci-
nation. which has been made in the
army during the - Intervening years.
Reassures Mothers.
Mothers need have no fear that
| the horrible experiences of '9S will be
repeated, and that their sons will die,
as perhaps their husbands did. from
yellow fever. typhoid or other dis
ease" said Mai, Palmerlee.
81 read an account in the Detroit
Journal recently in which an old man
who had served through the first
Mexican war said that an effort 10
conquer Mexico would end i'm defeat,
and not be defeated by bullets. but
by disease. He told of his expert
ences in that regard during the Mex
lean campaign.
but times have changed There |
will be no deaths, or practically none,
from typhoid fever. Vaccination has
eliminated typhoid from the army. |
Volunteers sent To the front would all |
be vaccinated
That would remove one great dan
ger. In the Spanish American war |
approximately 10000 soldiers suffered |
from this disease. The army, within |
six months after il had modified. |
was practically incapacitated through |
typhoid.
The medical personnel was good.
but the medical officers had practical
ly no authority \ regiments sur
geon could recommend certain sani-
tary precautions to the colonel. for
instance. And the colonel could adopt
them or not
Now, the rudiments of sanitation
are understood by the line officers as
well as by the medical staff. And
sanitation is the key To the whole
situation, Means to prevent disease
are what are constantly sought.
Shows Vaccination Results.
I'm '9S about $4,000 men were en-
camped at Tampa for four or five
months. In 1911 about the same num-
Der was encamped along the Mexi-
can border, under about the same
conditions ana i'm about the same lat
itude. Yet in '9S there were approX-
imately 2000 cases oc typhoid fever
among the $4,000 at Tampa, while in
1911 there was only one case in the
troops along the border This was
because the troops who were sent
To Texas in 1911 were vaccinated
against the disease. In 1911, a typhoid
epidemic ragged in Houston "A city toI
winch IN" troops had free access. But
they We're not affected.
'Cnsanitary conditions of camp life
Of II years ago would not now be
Tolerated, not only in the United
states army, but in any country.
AS for yellow fever that. too. can
be eliminated, if proper precautions
are taken. Yellow fever is spread nv
The mosquitoes breed on
pools of water Drain awayl:
the pools. or put gasoline in the wa
ter To prevent them breeding. and
you VIII have no yellow fever. So.
although there is yellow fever in
there will be little To fear
from it,"
Mai. Palmerlee cited the work of
Rrig.-Gen. Gorgas in the Panama
canal zone and Havana. as an in
stance OF what can be done To sion
yellow fever In the canal zone. the
death rate is lower now than in the
nit"d States, according to Mai Pal
merlee, although, when Uncle Sam
took possession of it, the French had
peen compelled to give up the work
because thousands of men had died
from the disease.
IN 1913, among the 10000 men i'm
the United States army, there were
only three deaths from typhoid" he
sald. These three were already in
iected when they enlisted.
In field hospital organization the
army Is much better off than in '9S.
Now we have hospital corps and am
bulance corps, thoroughly drilled and
skilled In first aid to the injured"