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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![the same time, but he makes no mention of the coexistence of this dis- ease in the same individual. The same great clinical teacher has observed that persons with tuberculosis in an advanced stage seldom become infected with typhoid fever, notwithstanding the fact that tuberculous patients are often kept for long periods in the same hos- pital wards with t3'phoid-fever cases, lie thinks, however, that in these cases the immunity to tj^phoid fever should be chiefly attributed to the emaciations accompanying tuberculosis; and he states that typhoid fever is also rare among those suffering from malignant dis- eases, from constitutional diseases, especially from diabetes. Ilis belief that the immunity to typhoid fever observed in advanced cases of tuberculosis is due to the emaciations rather than to specific infec- tion with the tubercle bacillus is supported by the observation that individuals with latent tuberculosis fail to show this immunity to typhoid fever, and he adds that every physician of large experience has unfortunatelj’^ had opportunity to observe the rajpid progress of tuberculosis in such cases during illness Avith typhoid fever. He states that individuals suffering from chronic nervous diseases, in so far as those maladies occur among those of susceptible age, show no immunity to typhoid fever. The relation of preexistent diseases of the stomach and intestines to susceptibility to typhoid fever is an interesting one. On this point we make the following quotation from Curschmann: The assertion that errors in diet, with consequent gastric and intestinal catarrh, induce typhoid fever is no longer open to discussion. This formerly accepted view was founded upon false conclusions drawn from different observations in accord- ance with the differently accepted ideas concerning the etiology of the disease. It undoubtedly happened that the early symptoms of typhoid fever were often con- founded with those of simple gastro-intestinal catarrh; especially is this likely to occur in typhus ambulans when the true nature of the disease is often not recog- nized until a chilly febrile relapse compels the individual to seek his bed. On the other hand, it is conceivable that errors in diet, with their consequences, may favor the development of the contagion, and it is not improbable that in individuals already infected they may hasten the appearance of the disease. This view is su]> ported by the frequently observed fact that relapses follow dietetic errors. The supposed susceptibility to typhoid fever after acute and chronic diseases of the stomach has been attributed to the altered production of hydrochloric acid. From e.\periments made outside of the body upon other pathogenic germs which infect by way of the intestinal tract, this assumption appears probable, and although the typhoid bacillus is relatively more re.sistent to the action of the gastric juice than the other pathogenic micro-organisms, it is not to be doubted that marked diminution of the free hydrochloric acid does materially improve the chances of this germ passing uninjured into the intestines. Theoretically, on the other hand, although we have no practical evidence bearing on the subject, it might be assumed that gastric affections accompanied by hyperacidity protect against typhoid fever. Certainly, with our present knowledge concerning tlio etiology of typhoid fever, no one will hold that this disease is ever caused by errors in diet or by the consequent gastric and intestinal catarrh. IIoAvever, there still remains the question whether or not catarrhal](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28063223_0263.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
