The Washington times., 1922-07-09
By DIR. w. HUTCEIINSO ON.
Eminent Physician Whose Health Articles Are Widely ReaD
How to Fight Danger of Vacation Typhoid Home Of Deadly Disc
Was Shifted From City to Country XIII the Fly Watch Your Wa
Supply and BE Sure of od-yaccine Has Worked Wonders

/H. are faced with the chAi-
~ ienge: "If disease IL pre-
ventabie. why not prevent TT Get
right down to cases ana tell us the
name Of some extinguished all
ment ana the date Of the funeral"
Sometimes We have to retire
behind a barricade Of test.tubes
and microscopes and from that
point Of vantage vigorously pelt
our critics with sharp-cornered
poiysyilabic terms Of reproach.
which are literally Greek to our
assailants.
On other occasions we pro-
duce that famous and historic
alibi, the safe retreat Of all re-
formers. poor old Human Nature
and Its well-known laziness and
perversity.
DEATH RATE LARGE.
But now more often we can
calmly reply. Here's your CORPSE"
and produce half a dozen other
death certificates. I
Not a few OF the deadliest
pestilences of former generations
have already been literally wiped
off the. map" Of these United
States within the last few decades.
Cholera, smallpox. yellow fever.
typhus, bubonic plague-all these
but the last were painfully well
known to our fathers and grand
fathers. Fifteen invasions Of yell
low fever. with at least 100000
deaths, are on record in the last
century.
Now the report Of the arrival
Of a handful Of. cases Of typhus.
or cholera. or bubonic plague. in
one Of our seaports. or even Of .
small epidemic along the water
fronts, excites only a mild interest
and small headlines. with scarcely
a ripple of uneasiness or apprehen-
sion. Z
DREAD TYPHUS BEATEN.
Just recently our vigilant
sanitary police service has gripped
the collar Of another criminal, and,
despite his frantic struggles, Ii
steadily showing him toward the
door marked This way out"
He originally looked 30 much
like one of hisr fellow-criminals.
Ty Phus, that we thought he was
his cousin and gave him the same
family name. Ty Phoid, or "typhus-
like" but, as a matter OF fact. he
isn't even In the family connection.
Within the memory Of the writer
our own typhoid death rate has
come tobogganing down from about
5000 deaths a year to barely
1000, while in the same time our
population has gone up 80 per cent,
90 that the actual efficiency Of
the cut is close to so per cent.
The most dramatic and striking
cause Of this splendid reduction
though, of course. II In responsible
for but a small percentage Of it
has been the typhoid vaccine in
wartime. ..... r.. .... 3
Our earliest names for typhoid
with typhus-were camp fever.
army fever and the like.
RECORDS IN WAR.
And richly did II deserve them
almost up to the very outbreak Of
the great war. the Russo-Japanese
war being the sole exception.
It's dreadful and disgraceful rec
ord in both the Spanish-American
war and the Engiish.B .Boer war.
sweeping away more lives than fell
In battle or died of wounds, IL pain
fully familiar to all Of us over
thirty-five.
But in the great war, what q
magnificent difference. what won
derful transformation! We held In
our hand a bacterial charm. the
typhoid vaccine. tried and tested
In our Mexican campaign, where
II had held the deaths among
$4,000 men down to a mere handful.
And, instead of mourning at
least a5o, 900 deaths from camp
fever In the great war. as we
should have at pre-vaccination
rates, there were barely 1900 cases
and about 100 deaths In the entirs
British and American armies on
the western front!
VACCINE THE CONQUEROR.
II there could be any lingering
doubt as to what won this superb
triumph of iife-saving. II Is swept
away by the fact that our enemies,
the Germans. and Our allies, tie
French, who did not adopt the vac
cine until the second year Of the
war, lost In that time 100000 and
TOMB OF v
VWHH I Rl