The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-05-30
VACCINE IS URGED BY
DR.. LEWIS To PREVENT
TYPHOID IN OKLAHOMA
HEALTH COMMISSIONER TO INAUG.
uRATE VACCINATION CAM.
PAlGN THIS SUMMER.
BY DIR. 4. Il. LEWIS.
State Health Commissioner.

Time after time the attention of peo'
pie has been called To the fact that ty'
phoid fever Is one OF the most destruc'
tive OF our common diseases. IL Is also
one OF the most thoroughly preventable
But people do not seem TO understand
this and the fact must be emphasized
again and again,
The easiest the most practical and
the most thoroughly safeguard against
typhoid is typhoid vaccine. II has been
tried out ON a tremendous scale and
its value has been proyed beyond a
question. For centuries the ravages
OF typhoid In cities equipped with mod
ern sewerage systems and sanitary pre-.
cautions were tremendous. How great
these ravages were we cannot exactly
tell, because accurate vital statistics
We're entirely lacking in those days.
But II was when war broke out that
typhoid showed what a deadly enemy
% mankind IL was. Up to the time
~ the Russo Japanese war as far as
is known, there never was n contest
in which the destruction by enemy
shells and bullets was as great as the
death rate from typhoid. In the Boer
war the enemy lost twelve men by dis
ease to only one man killed in action.
In our Spanish. American war the ratio
was only 90 to /. In the war just
ended, the greatest war ever fought, n
1 war fought under conditions which not
only were unsanitary. but in many
ways terrible that an enormous death
rate would have been expected. the to-
tai deaths from disease were compare
lively small and deaths from typhoid al
most negligible.
Value Of Vaccination.
There was one great reason for this
in former wars vaccination against ty'
phoid cevor had been unknown; in this
war every soldier was yacc!pated Ii
is true that other precautions We're
taken especially by the American gov
ernment The utmost care was taken
in guarding the food and water of the
soldiers and i'm seeing that conditions
were made as sanitary and hygienic as
possible. But the great factor in pre-
venting typhoid was vaccination.
Each year in our cities and villages
typhoid takes n heavy toll. The per
centage of deaths in typhoid cases is
large. Even when the attack does not
result lildllN II II ilN NtiNo oNllou'i -
weakens the patient for long time to
come and sometimes its after effects
persist for years or even through lie.
1t is n very conservative estimate TO say
that "a out of % of these cases could
have been prevented by the simple pre-
caution of vaccination.
Typhoid vaccination is virtually pain
less For most persons the after-ef'
fects are trivial, nor as serious in fact
as the average smallpox vaccination.
When it is doTe by Il competent physl-
clan there is 10 danger of infection or
Injurious effects. 1t protects the per
son for three years. In state like
Oklahoma where it is often necessary
to draw the public water supply from
streams which have run through set
tied communities. typhoid vaccination
would be as common as smallpox vacci-
nation and whenever typhoid vaccina-
ton becomes common in communities
the disease except for extremely rare
and sporadic cases. will be unknown.
Typhoid Vaccination Campaign.
IT is the intention of the state com
missioner of health to inaugurate this
summer a typhoid vaccination campaign
throughout this state. 1t is of course
possible that this will meet with some
opposition from those who do not thor
oughly realize the enormous benefit
which will result from such cam
paign. Every movement to conserve
the health of the people is met with OPP
position from the ignorant and preju-
diced. but the results attained in the
saving of lives and the decrease oil as
ease more than justifies the effort.