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.
- Walter Reed
- Date:
- 1900
Licence: In copyright
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.
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![ville, where it joined the other divisions. During a part of its stay at ]Miami, and during the entii’e period of its encampment at Jack- sonville, water carriage was employed for the disposition of fecal matter. The number of cases of probable typhoid fever that devel- oped in the six regiments of this division was 1,030. In the Second Division the tub system of disposing of fecal matter was employed. By this method infected fecal matter was scattered all through the camp. The number of cases of probable typhoid fever that devel- oped in nine regiments of this division was 2,693. In the Third Division regulation pits were used for the disposal of fecal matter. The number of cases of j)robable typhoid fever that developed in seven regiments of this division was 1,292. (23) The tub system of disposal of fecal matter as practiced in the Second Division of the Seventh Army Corps is to he condemned. Of all the methods used for the disposal of fecal matter practiced in the national encampments in 1898, this we regard as the most unsatisfactory. The reason for our condemnation of this system has already been given. {2Jf) The regulation xnt system is not a satisfactory method of dis- posing of fecal matter in x>e-rmanent camps. Especially is this true in tropical countries, and in temperate climates during the summer time. It is a very difficult thing to have the soldiers apiireciate the necessity of keeping fecal matter covered. As we have elsewhere stated, in many camps orders were issued requiring each man to cover his feces as soon as deposited; but we did not inspect the pits of a regiment in which we did not find exposed fecal matter. Moreover, in our camps in 1898 flies swarmed so numer- ously that the first droppings of fecal matter wei‘e often covered with them before the act of defecation was completed. The pit system may be employed when armies are on the march and stopping at one place for a few days at most, but even then they are sources of danger, and we believe that it is quite impossible to whollj'^ prevent the spread of typhoid fever in camps in Avhich this method of disposing of fecal matter is employed. We have seeii how difficult it was to prepare sinks of proper dimensions at Chickamauga, and, furthermore, that it was quite impos.sible to keep the contents of these sinks pi’operly <‘Overed. The clay thrown out in digging the pits hardened in the sun and when thrown back into the pit on the fecal matter had but little absorptive power, and the result was that fecal matter was con- stantly exposed. We have also seen that in some of the camps about Tampa it was imi)ossible to dig sinks on account of the height of the ground water. For these reasons we are thoroughly convinced that if epidemics of typhoid fever are to be prevented some other method of disposing of fecal matter in (*,amps occupied for a week or longer must be resorted to. {25) In permane7it camps where luater carriage can not be secured](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28063223_0207.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
