South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-12-10
How Italy Fights
Cholera
BY Wood Hutchinson. Md.

]
Most Of the plaques Of the SOL
der are his old familiar home dis
eases in more vicious form-typhoid.
pneumonia. tuberculosis. dysentery.
heart disease. kidney disease. These
are the maladies which account for
the vast majority of deaths in camp
and barrack. just as in peaceful.
civil life.
But sometimes the fierce earth
quake Of war shakes and hurls us
back 20 the primitive, in both NOR
ais and maladies, and raises some
unexpected ghosts OF strange and
half forgotten ancient diseases TO
vex US again. Some fortunately.
are too dead TO rise again in any
earthquake resurrection, however
rending-black death, smallpox, the
sweating sickness-these. we believe.
can never raise their heads again
in any civilized and sanitary COM
muuity-thoUgh We boast with our
fingers crossed and our knuckles
reaching for Iingo-ceuulose sub
stance.
But few of the historic plaques
are not buried so deeply nor so dead,
and two of them have come TO life
again in this war-typhus and
cholera-both from the regions Of
the unwashed east Both brought
in by Austrian prisoners
into Serbia. cholera into Italy.
The typhus epidemic ran like
wildfre through war-ravaged and
half-famished Serbia, until it was
tackled. and not merely checked,
but completely stamped out, by the
splendid and mastery work OF an
commission.
Italy's cholera epidemic faced her
suddenly in the first year Of the war
in most menacing proportions. The
disease came i'm gradually and in
sidiously in the form of scattered
cholera carriers among the first few
thousands of Austrian prisoners.
There were no open cases-nothing.
in fact. 70 arouse any suspicion
whatever until these prisoners car
riers had been spread out through
a number Of prison camps and had
infected the water supply Of some
of the Italian troops.
Then. with the approach OF hot
weather. the disease burst out in
full vigor, like a forest fire that had
run underground, in a dozen differ
ent centers at once. and within a
few weeks the sanitarians had seven
or eight thousand cases on their
hands.
But not a moment was lost in at
lacking the outbreak. The Santa of
the Italian army fell upon it at once,
horse. foot and dragon, in most
workmanlike fashion. All known
cases were isolated i'm comfortable
hospital camps. given the best Of
treatment and care. and their dis
charges rfgidly sterilized so as to
prevent any further spread OF the
disease from them.
How intelligent and effective was
the treatment given them may be
judged by the fact that while the
ordinary death rate from cholera is
from 30 20 80 percent, the total
losses among these cases were barely
20 percent. including a considerable
number of the earliest cases. who
were almost az deaths door before
the disease was properly recognized.
In fact, the death rate in the first
few weeks Of the disease was some
thing like 40 percent. showing that
it was no mild or trifiing type of
the dread Infection.
Then all who had come in contact
or We're suspected of having come
in contact with the cases. or had
drunk OF the presumably infected
water were given the cholera vac
cine. which. though not as certain
or Is perfect as the smallpox and
the typhoid vaccine, was found TO
give a very helpful degree Of pro
lection. All water supplies for the
troops and prisoners were, Of course,
chlorinated at once, so as TO short
circuit the spread Of the infection
along that wire.