Report on an outbreak of typhoid fever at Omaha, Nebr. - (1909-1910) / by L.L. Lumsden. The water supply of Williamson, W. Va., and its relation to an epidemic of typhoid fever / by W.H. Frost.
- Leslie Leon Lumsden
- Date:
- [1910]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Report on an outbreak of typhoid fever at Omaha, Nebr. - (1909-1910) / by L.L. Lumsden. The water supply of Williamson, W. Va., and its relation to an epidemic of typhoid fever / by W.H. Frost. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![]. REPORT ON AN OUTBREAK OF TYPHOID FEVER AT OMAHA, NEBR. (1909-1910).“ By L. L. Lumsden, Passed Assistant Surgeon, United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, Hygienic Laboratory, Washington, D. C. INTRODUCTION. The city of Omaha, Nebr., is situated on a series of hills rising gradually from the west bank of the Missouri River. For the greater part of the city the general slope of the land is toward the river, and thus excellent natural drainage is afforded. The city’s present population is estimated at about 138,000, and for the last ten years has varied probably between that number and 100,000. The water supply has been obtained, for the most part, for certainly the last twenty years, from the Missouri River. This river, at numerous points north of Omaha, receives the sewage from a large number of persons, and therefore can be regarded as a some- what dangerously polluted stream. The treatment of the water before being distributed to the city has not been such as to render it reason- ably free from dangerous pollution. Notwithstanding the character of the water supply, Omaha did not have during the twenty years prior to 1909 a typhoid fever rate which could be considered much, if any, above the average for other American cities having comparable climatic and sanitary conditions. In the latter part of November, 1909, the rate of prevalence of typhoid fever in Omaha became unusually high, and continued so until the latter part of March, 1910. From December 1, 1909, to April 1, 1910, there were reported 582 cases with 59 deaths. The death rate from typhoid during this period was over six times as high as the average rate for the corresponding periods of the five years previous, and, as far as the records show, much higher than it ever had been in this period of any previous years. Gradually the people awakened to the fact that their city was being visited by an outbreak, or epidemic, of typhoid fever. This “Manuscript submitted for publication June 21, 1910.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28070793_0009.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
