South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-07-21
Typhoid Feuer
Is PreUentable
United States is Generation
Behind Times in Reduc
ton Of Typhoid Nor
tally.

Four hundred thousand persons in
capacitated and 10000 lives lost-this
is the heavy toll exacted in the United
states each year by the scourge of ty-
phoid fever. And typhoid fever is
preventable disease,
A recent bulletin Of the United
states public health service entitled
Typhoid Fever-Its CauSation and
Prevention" states that within the
mast 10 years few of our communities
having as many as 1000 persons have
remained free from this disease for
any period of II consecutive months.
In recent times the rate Of its preVa-
lence for the United States as a whole
has been from two TO five times as
high as in some of the countries OF
Europe. In these European countries
the typhoid rate was formerly higher
than the present figures for the United
States Their great reductions in the
ravages of the disease have been
brought about by improvements in
sanitary conditions.
II many American cities there has
occurred within the last 20 years a
considerable reduction of typhoid
fever. Due in a large part to i'm.
proved sanitary conditions in the
cities. the typhoid rate for some en-
I
crease. For the country as a whole
according TO available figures, the rate
has been reduced about 30 per cent in
| the past 40 years. But the present
/ rate is about the same as that which
prevailed in some of the other adj
vanced nations of the world 80 years
ago. In other words the United States
! is a generation behind the times, in
y respect to the reduction of its typhoid
rate.
/ Practical and efficient measures for
/ the prevention of typhoid fever are
/ definitely known, but the efforts to
get the people of the average self
/ governing community to carry out
/ these measures to a. reasonable extent
are Oftentimes decidedly experimental
/ in character. In many instances the
cost Of modern sanitary improvements
/ has been an obstacle in the way Of
/ typhoid prevention. 1t is often diff
/ cult to convince the governing author
/ tiles that money expended in the pro-
lection of the public health yields
| large dividends.
In rural communities and small
municipalities another factor-the in
! structiOn and cooperation of the indi-
/ Vidual property Owner-enters into the
| problem. Here every home must have
its own method of sewage disposal,
and in most cases its own water sup
, ply. The public health service bulletin
above referred to deals in a compre-
hensive way with the construction OF
| wells and outhOuse9
In recent years a specific method for
| increasing individual resistance to ty-
phoid germs has been employed. This
| Is known as anti-typhoid incubation
] or vaccination" This method has
been used extensively in military or
CARNATIONS of the United States, and
from the results obtained il appears
that inoculated persons are, upon
/ equal exposure to typhoid infection,
less than One-fOurth as likely 10 de-
velop the disease as those who have
not been inoculated. and who have
previously had the disease. The aver
| age duration Of protection given by
incubation has not been determined,
but is supposed to be about two years.
1t is pointed out, however. that the
protection given by anti-typhOid in
oculatiOn is relative, not absolute, and
that such incubation is not TO be re
garded as a substitute for sanitation.