The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1920-04-08
TYPHOID PERlLs BANlsHED

Possibly the grandchildren OF the
present generation will class typhoid
fever with the dodo, dinosaur. and the
Y ichthysaurus, for the disease seems in.
fa1f way 10 pass from the earth. II
|. looks as though we could Danish u
= cities, y the towns, and the ruraI dis
s;tIaets will measure up to- the pace set
by the larger, cities
In 1919 the total number OF deaths
Y from typhoid in 60 cities with an aggre-
gate population of more than 100000
was only LIPS. In 1891 Chicago alone,
having thensa population of l,14S.7s5, had
i ily1 deaths from. typhoid. ss58ss
The journal of the American Medical
Association began publishing the ty-
phoid records OF American cities in 1914
me gain shown by this sixth report as
Y compared with conditions set forth in
s the report Tor 1918 is almost unebliev-
able. $3.50. ~.
In 1918 Spokane, with a population OF
more than 49, o0 had not one death
from typhoid. Hartford, with popu-
lation OF over 100000. had one death and
Cambridge only two. Chicago, with all
most 100000 people, had only 81.
The American Medical Association
carries eight cities on It's honor roll.
Ihey are Spokane, Hartford, Chicago,
= scranton, Tacoma, New Bedford, Cam
bridge, and New York. The typhoid
death rate of these range from Spo-
kane, 0, to New York .
e Ihe cities with q typhoid death rate
over two and less than FIVE are 81 in
number. In this list are found Newark.
boston, Jersey City, Seattle, Cleve-
Portland. Richmond, Philadelphia and
Los Angeles.
me cities In the second rank are 10 in
number. They have a rate between five
anu TO- Grand Rapids leads this group.
among which are also Detroit, st. Louis,
Flttsburgh, as well as several southern
cities.
In the third rank are Ave cities with
rates between 10 and 20. Memphis, as
the result of water borne epidemic in
the spring of 1919, occupied the fourth
group, being without companions.
compare with that the following rec
ords: For the year 1906-10 only one city
IN America had an average OF less than
10-Cambridge, 3d. Eight had records
ords in 1919 lower than the lowest 10 to
Is years ago.
OF the entire list of cities with more
than 100000 Inhabitants only six had q
record in 1919 higher than the best rec
ord in 1860. A record over which as
health commissioner Of Chicago 10 years
ago I used much printers ink in boast
ing would be. condemned as disgrace
fully bad today.
The Journal of the American Medical
Association says:
The remarkably successful results
reached in this group of cities are due
to the unremitting efforts Of health
officers in safeguarding the public water
and milk supplies in applying proper
methods of excreta disposal and in
tracking down typhoid carriers 1t
seems to be evident that water supply
and milk supply are hardly important
factors at present in typhoid causation
in our large American cities.'
The association gives credit for con-
siderable part Of the Improvement to the
return of the young men from military
camps. these men being immune to ty-
phoid by reason Of vaccination. In pre-
vious wars Increase Of typhoid has fol-
lowed in the wake of war.
Now decrease Of this disease is cited
as one result of war. Since protection
OF the water, chlorination Of water, dis
posal of excreta, pasteurization of milk,
and typhoid vaccination have accom-
| plished so much in these large groups
of people why should not the people who
| live in the rural districts and in the
small towns individually employ the
same methods?