Evening star., 1927-04-26
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL z. COLLINS.

When the Mississippi flood passes
then what will be it's toll? Now 1t is
taking tragic booty in the lives of
drowning men, women and children
hundreds Of them. The long period
vet to follow, when epidemics may
scourge the flooded territory, and
when farmers will look upon their
devastated fields and merchants and
mechanics look upon their destroyed
capital and uninhabitable homes, and
see disease stalking among the sur
vivors-that may easily show more
fearful loss than daily news is yet re-
cording.
Already there are more than 500
cases of drowning and 10000 refugees
| huddled in makeshift shelters, anna
| insanitary conditions, which nave
| been unavoidable because tragedies
| like this do not permit adequate prep
aration. Men seldom foresee the Sc
| riousness of what is coming. The
| Government, both Federal and local,
| is doing all that is possible. The Ma
tional Red Cross Society Is meeting
| the crisis with it's usual excellent efil-
| ciencv, but when 100000 or $4,000
square miles suddenly become the
camp of an unorganized army or
| refugees, exposed to bitter weather
and with many whether strong or
delicate) unsheltered from rain or
wind and unprotected from impure
water bearing death germs In every
drop, the seriousness OF the SITUATION
| is not exaggerated by saying that 1t
makes epidemics almost inevitable.
X y X X
Military camps during the World
| War were astonishingly free from
| typhoid and other infections, but only
| because they We're subject to organ
| lied and rigid discipline. The water
| for drinking was all purified chemical
| " and the latrines We're rigldly IN
| spected and regulated. The soldiers
were inoculated against every known
| infectious or contagious disease ana
made practically immune to ordinary
| infection. Their clothing was system
atically disinfected. Ii they felt
| the slightest symptoms Of sickness
they were examined daily by surgeons
and treated with prevention" Con-
ditions in an Army camp cannot be
| compared with conditions in refugee
| camp or upon scattered farms or IN
| desolated communities, where even in
normal times the most ordinary sani-
tary precautions are ignored.
Tt has been said that medical science
| has so advanced that typhoid iS prac-
| tically conquered" Yet within the
| last few weeks Montreal has had $500
| cases and 200 deaths from that CON
quered" disease, now traced to m
! fected milk of one dairy. One swal-
| low of infected water by the refugees
of the Mississippi River, washing over
dead animals and filth, may start a
| typhoid epidemic which will sweep the
valley. Merely urging the thirsty
sufferer not to drink the water until
| IL is chIorinated cannot make much
| impression against the tortures or
| thirst Then it is too late to save
the victim by incubation; 1t takes
| 20-day treatment to make one immune
from tyuhoid and it must all precede
contamination. The same applies 10
scarlet fever and similar infections.
| If a smallpox patient enters one
refugee community he may expose
| hundreds to that dread disease.
Prompt vaccination will usually save
the smallpox victim, but there Is no
such surety against the feVers OF
| typhoid and related diseases OF lnfec-
| ton.
X X X
| After the water subsidies, the clean
| ing up will be work of weeks. over
everything will be an inorustation or
foul-smelling silt, caked as hard as
pottery and filled with disease germs,
Merely sprinkling it with slaked lime
will accomplish nothing, and the work
of instructing the masses as TO the
proper methods of disinfecting will
tax the utmost resources of organized
relief, even with the Red Cross and
Government in charge.
| This is a crisis which affects not
alone the victims caught in the actual
| flood region, according to the United
To,.hffn IJaaItl. oaf1-