Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1919-08-15
DYSENTARY IS
ANOTHER WEAK
LINK IN HUMANS

The alarmingly high percentage OF
unfitness among young men Of mill
tary age in the South Atlantic ano
! Gulf States may serve as IN index &c
the same relatively high percentage OF
rnfitness of the population as Who'll o,
| The South is keenIy embarrassed over
| this situation ard rightly so. A great
slice of this unfitness is due to the
| venereal or social" disease. At first
this was thought to be due to the ne
gro element of our population. Later
| figures, however, revealed the fact
that the same high percentage of IN
| fitness exists among the white popu'
| lation.
The Southern States are not alto.
gether to blame for this embarrassing
state of affairs Ignorance plays a |
large part, but the distribution OF
ignorance is fairly uniform over the
country at large. Probably the most
specific cause is climate. Our states !
are rated in the temperate zone, but
from the standpoint of health they are
almost semi-trOpical. Hence we have
to contend with a great many factors
from which our sister states north OF
us enjoy natural immunity. The
great scourges of hookworm and NAL
aria are already familiar to us. Both
are tropical diseases and each has
played a large part in lowering the
physical fitness of our people. Pella-
gra is also peculiar to the South and
has contributed its share.
There is one other important dis
ease which though not confined to the
South yet takes advantage of the ia
vorable climate, and not only causes
thousands of deaths annually, but
stunts and cripples the vitality OF
many other thousands, thus render
ing them susceptible to other dis
eases. This disease is called dysen-
te1y.
Dysentery is of two kinds-amoebic
and bacillary. Amoebic dysentery,
though not as contagious as the bac-
Hilary form, Isl of much longer dura-
ton and may last for years as chron-
ic dysentery. 1t is also not as prev
alent nor as fatal, but it incapacitates
the victim for a much longer time and
life a burden indeed. 1t is
rather difficult to cure, although treat
ment With emetin may arrest and
effect a cure after long
treatment.
Bacillary dysentery is related to ty-
phoid fever in many ways. 1t is a
food and water bourne disease. An
water supply or dairy may /
result in an epidemic particularly
among children The death rate is
highest among children under five
years of age. The so-called summer
diarrhoea" of babies is often in real
ity bacillary dysentery originating |
from carelessly handled dairy prod
ucts Flies also play an important |
part in spreadin dysentery. The fe
cal discharge from the infected indi- |
vidual is teeming with the germs, |
even after the patient has recovered. |
If flies have access to this material |
by means of the surface closet the |
germs may be distributed to many |
kinds of food In this way the sur
face closet and the common house fly |
are responsible more than any other !
factors for the spread of both ty' |
phoid and dysentery. "'----
Unfortunately, medical science has
not yet discovered vaccine which |
will immunize against dysentery. In
the end, however, this may not be |
So unfortunate For the most sue !
cessful way to combat disease is to
remove the original cause. Hence |
if we can be sufficiently impressed |
with the Importance of sanitary sew
age disposal and safe water supply
vaccination will become unnecessary, |