Newark post. (Newark, Del.) 1910-1969, 1916-07-26
How To Safeguard
Against Typhoid
Authority Discusses t'e Danger
From Flies

find a new department Oh Collf
munity Health, conducted by Or.
Charles E. Terry, who is known
far and wide for the remarkable
work he has done in Jacksonville,
Florida, making it over from one
of the most unsanitary and dis
E. so-ridden cities in the South to
one of almost model cleanliness.
The writer will point out the dis
ease to be guarded against in each
current month, and give facts ana
preventive measures regarding
the diseases. rou.,,
rho August menace, DR.. Terry
describes under the caption Tic
Threa Deadly F's." "A few years
400. in a new subdivision OF
southern city, a group OF eight or
ton cottages was erected and soon
vented. A member of one OF the
last families to move in was just
recovering from typhoid FEVER;
Tha season was Summer ana
within a few weeks of the arrival
of this family, seven cases oi .ne
disease developed among I'm. tHe
other households of the llttle
group. Two of the cases "ete
FATAL Investigation by the health
denatment showed that no WISH
mo had taken place between the
other families and the newcom-
ers: indeed, none OF them Aiie"
what allied the convalescent mem
har Of this family. The water
SnnnIv of all the families was the
general supply of the city ana u
Known purity; the milk supply
was investigated and touno &oo'e
suspicision.
One pertinent fact, however,
was that the city sewerage sys-
tenn had not been extended TO thlS
section and that each family was
sunplied with a surface prlVy' All
Of these were poorly constructed
unscreened and full OF CRACKS,
tbair doors were commonly lett
onen and within a RADIUS OF
few hundred feet from the house
occupied by the original case
were eight or nine unscreeiieu
Kitchens and dining-rooms, at d
season when all windows were
left open and when flies were
most abundant.
As though to clinch the evl-
dence il was discovered that no
disinfe ction of linen or wastes
Nod heen carried out by the lam
;lv Of the first case. Flies breed
mo and feasting in this danger
ons filth were, three times each
dav, attracted by the more en'Ic-
mo odors of cooking to the neigh-
horing kitchens and dlnlng-roohS
where, while RECALLING themselves
they deposited their minute our
dans of filth and typhoid germs
on the families savory dishes.
Each link in the chain was com
nIete-three links-the d e a d ly
trinity of fies-filth-food.
During the Spanish-Amerlcan
War approximately two Thousand
Of our troops succumbed TO "
phoid in Chickamauga, JACKSON
Vile, Tampa and other tralnlng
camps. Three hundred and SIX
were killed in active service "A
medical commission under the
leadership of Major Waiter heeo
wes appointed to determine the
cause of this widespread mice
tion of our men in camps sup
nosedlv sanitary. A significant
statement in the report submit
ted was "fies with their 1eet
whitened with lime trom the
latrines) were seen walking over
the food"
Of almost equal significance
was the finding that ofhcers
whose mess-tents were screened
against flies suffered less, pro-
portionately, from this disease
than did the enlisted men, ana
that typhoid fever gradually dis
appeared n the Fall of 1898 with
the appearance of cold weather
and the consequent disabling OF
the fly
The work of this commission
was one of the first official IN
~ i,
dictments against the fly as a DIS
seminatol of disease. The history
Of preventive medicine is full OF
such sacrifcial lessons. The cost
S great, but eventually humanity
profits.
Since 1898 fy-born typhoid cpl
denies as we'll as those of other
intestinal disc es-especially
the Summer complaints of our