Abstract of report on the origin and spread of typhoid fever in U.S. military camps during the Spanish war of 1898 / by Walter Reed ... Victor C. Vaughan ... and Edward O. Shakespeare.

  • United States. Surgeon-General's Office.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Abstract of report on the origin and spread of typhoid fever in U.S. military camps during the Spanish war of 1898 / by Walter Reed ... Victor C. Vaughan ... and Edward O. Shakespeare. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    its climax, fell slowh^ until January, 1871, and more rapidly to June, but at the last-mentioned date it had not reached the peace level. During the fall of 1870 there was not a regiment in the German army- free from typhoid fever. In addition to the importation of typhoid fever, the Germans invaded a country in which this disease was then and is at all times practically endemic. However, the point which we wish to emphasize here is that the invading army transported typhoid fever with it, and that from seeds thus carried the disease spread until no regiment remained free from it. Typhoid fever may be transported along with an army into regions where man has never previously been. This was illustrated in the Afghan war, from 1878 to 1880. Several of the encampments of the English soldiers during this invasion of Afghanistan occupied posi- tions probably never before occupied by human beings. It is not at all likel}^ that the water, which was obtained from mountain streams in the invaded region, was specifically contaminated with the virus of typhoid fever; nor was it likely that the virgin soil covered by these encampments was infected, except as it became so by occupa- tion, and yet tj^phoid fever occurred at nearly every station occupied by the English troops. Only one explanation of the prevalence of this disease in these places seems possible. It is known that the English troops which had been encamped in various parts of India were widely infected with typhoid fever when the invasion of Afghanistan was begun. A similar experience is furnished by the history of French expeditions in northern Africa. In the Oran campaign in 1885 French commands encamped in desert stations never before occupied, and in these typhoid fever not only appeared, but acquired epidemic proportions. In the Suakin exx)edition of 1885 every precaution was taken to insure a pure water supply for the troops. In fact, all the drinking water was distilled. Notwithstanding this fact typhoid fever pre- vailed quite extensively. At least one regiment, the East Surrey, joined the exiDcdition already infected with typhoid fever. It is more than likely that these men infected the latrines and that flies aided in the distribution of the disease. In the expedition for the relief of Chitral, from March 28 to August 24, 1895, typhoid fever was carried along with the English soldiers. The first recognized case of this disease occurred April 29, although this had been i3receded by several other cases the diagnosis of which had been doubtful at the time and which had been transferred to base hospitals, proving later to be ty]3hoid fever. The expedition con- sisted of two regiments, with a total strength of 1,601 ofiicers and men. After battles at Malakand and Kahr, April 3 and 4, these regi- ments were encamped at Kahr, in the Swat Valley, 2,000 feet above sea level. The health was good at first, but with the increasing heat the men, who were very much crowded together in small single fly tents.