Tropical diseases and health in the United States / by John M. Swan.
- Swan, John M. (John Mumford), 1870-1949
- Date:
- [1911]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Tropical diseases and health in the United States / by John M. Swan. 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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![The destruction of rats in our seaports is a problem that should at once receive attention from the proper sanitary authorities. A. ship coming from a plague port with infected rats in its hold should be so moored that these animals cannot get ashore. For this purpose rat guards have been devised for the purpose of pre- venting the rodents from leaving the vessel at night by way of the hawsers, and starting an epizootic among the rats on land. Once started in New York or Philadelphia these cities would pass through an experience similar to that of San Francisco. The rat population is ready to hand, the rat flea is ready with his host, and the climatic conditions from May to October are suitable. No advantage except a temporary one, is ever gained by deny- ing the exisence of an epidemic in any city. The hiding of the facts gives a chance for the disease to gain headway and to result finally in a greater loss to business and a more appalling loss of life than though the disease were admitted to exist from the begin- ning and proper prophylactic measures immediately instituted. Cholera is due to the Bacillus cholerse. It is a water-borne dis- ease, the infected individual polluting the water supply by improper disposition of his feces. Flies are sometimes responsible for epi- demics by first alighting on objects contaminated with the bacilli and then alighting upon exposed food stufifs. It is hardly to be conceived that an epidemic of this disease should start in any of our American cities. The quarantine officers are constantly on the lookout for cases of intestinal disturbance in immigrants from parts in which cholera exists, as well as in the members of the crews of the vessels. In Mohammedan countries many pilgrims returning from ]\Iecca bring holy water with them from the Holy City. In order to give all the faithful an opportunity to benefit from the water, the contents of the bottle are emptied into the well or other source of water supply of the village to which the pilgrim belongs. Since the holy water frequently contains cholera bacilli, an epidemic results. With the increasing Mohammedan population of the Pacific coast this is a problem that may confront our health offi- cers in the future. Infection of the individual is to be prevented by boiling the drinking water, by abstaining from the use of uncooked foods, and by care in the production of the milk supply. The house fly should not be neglected. The patient is not dan- (407)](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2120617x_0020.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
