Show AND 1 SANITATION J L Controlling Epidemic D Dis eases Of j EPIDEMICS WONDERfUL f Quarantine Laws a Great i- i r He Help p in Fight Against Dread Maladies 1 UCH REMAINS 18 YET YET YET-TO TO BE BEDONE DONE DONElow low oW Saving More Than man 40 00 Yearly From Ravages a ages Tuberculosis of f BY FREDERIC J. J HASKIN Tho Th o progress that medical science kits as 13 made in tho the past half century in releasing 1 asin the race from the ho thralldom m mf jf f epidemic f lic disease constitutes what is in human buman the brightest bri page gc lator It has been such a gradual ogres progress that few po people realize its or have noted its onward steps In fact fRet wily only o ly those who have have- studied the statistics that bear such remark remark- Rl kIc testimony to its effectiveness ness ap ap- we the tho f full lI meaning canin of it it all Bethe Be Be- toro Ire the beginning of the th past half i c c century sr smallpox was about the on only important epidemic disease that could be bo checked chocked effectively and quickly It Its ts Ss s true truc t that at before that time the tho grad grail hial l acceptance of the d doctrine that bat cJ cleanliness s is next nen t to godliness had re re- faulted rUId 1 ed in Tendering the tho great plagues I fo history less s frequent in oe occurrence DC loss se serious in extent in ina a lok ok k hito tho the I nations which espoused of cleanliness Ss But there prk tri cull unconquerable ler blo epidemics p of olera of bubonic plague lague of yellow ver ver and the thc like Jike and it was not fl ui un- un tJ tle germs erins erms of gf the principal diseases rc ru ij that quarantine l laws ire ro rc ma made c effective and the fight ht international epidemics suc- suc Quarantine Laws Laws Important MC H ono one is to appreciate the meaning aIl ill this this' let him consider what our r laws Jaws alone have havo meant to fas us i With a a tide of a million miJI n immigrants limni- limni grants coming into our ports annually what chance could we wo havo had to for forestall stall un JD epidemic of cholera when tb thousands of victims of th the disease were r rc seeking leekin embarkation f to America and where bere many mau many do despite tho the utmost i vigilance i lance woula have havo escaped detec dete- detection tion but for a microscopic examination of their their intestinal c contents nt And Ad with bubonic plague O in a dozen or more ports from which ships chips sail to the United States State how should wo WI escape Ml 1 epi epidemic c- c cof of that disease if we did dd ln not t know how hot hotto to prevent It itt f Da Day in In Ino o d da day out year in aud and year vear out the quarantine officers of the United States States' never relax clax their efforts to protect ninety million mimon people from the invasion in r of h hostile stile armies s of germs They do dot t their work ork so BO well and yet yot so 80 quietly nine of us ua do o not know k Continued on page 3 S. i CONTROL OF EPIDEMICS WONDERFUL Continued Wl page paco 1 that hat they thoy cx exist st unless we happen to ho bo sailing saBins homo homo- from frolD an alien port No Nono Noone ono one no can estimate estimate- tho the of thousands thou thou- sands ands of deaths that are prevented an- an by the tho care with which the pubic pub lie He ic health service guards our ports Much to Be Done It is interesting to compare v what at has hascen l been cen done in the thc way of suppressing epidemic diseases wi with b what bat remains yet yot ret to be bc done In tho the past half con con- tury ury the tho civilized nations have ha e dis dis- covered the tho germs of the majority of the he epidemic diseases Tuberculosis yellow fever typhoid foyer fever pneumonia nia lia diphtheria bubonic plague typhus 8 lover over spinal meningitis hooKworm disease disease dis dis- ease ase measles and a along long lon list of other contagious and infectious ailments have been eon robbed of their Dl mystery and aud metho methods s of their prevention havo have been heen di discovered Throughout ho t tho the civilized world tho effect of tho the application of these methods has been limited only by hy their beir lack of thoroughness The progress durin during tho decade boo bo- tween 1900 and 1910 in jn n the re istra- istra tion area of tho the United States reveals w what at America has haa h a accomplished by th tb tho spread of tho the principles of medicine There were rero only two third an at many deaths from typhoid fever foyer i in 1910 1010 as there thoro were in 1900 death deaths occurring from it out of ot each tach 00 of population in 1900 as compared wit with in m 1910 1010 The Tho number of death deaths from from diphtheria was WC cut down nearl nearly a third Tuberculosis caused 1818 deaths in 1900 where it caused deaths in in 1910 Diseases of ot the respiratory atory system were cut down from from- 2562 in in 1900 to 1873 in 1910 And BO so on one might ml ht carry the ratio on through h th the list of s and contagious die dis- oases cases V Applying Am some of these theSie figures ll reB i t to tho United States as a whole it it i is found that this means that we wo we are sa ing lug more than forty thousand housand people J a year from tuberculosis aa as 8 a result rosult o othe otho of the tho pro progress made since 1900 in the thi fight fi ht against it ft Wo havo reduced tin the number of deaths deatha from typhoid by ten tei thousand a 3 year the tho number of death deaths from diphtheria and croup have fallen falle twenty thousand a year From die dia eases of tho respiratory system there then aro proportionately sixty thousand fewer deaths a 3 year ye-ar than there won were only ten years ago ngo Taking all aU cause I to together ether there thore were proportionately nearly a a. quarter of a a million more mon I deaths in tho the country in 1910 thai than I The 1110 credit belong belongs there thero wore in 1900 to the Ithe application of preventive medi I duo cine rather than to the discovery discover o oits 01 of its theories since the tho doctors knew almost almost al most ns as much bout about theeo theories ii in 1000 1900 as they did ten t n years enra later Asido from quarantine re regulations II the most important method which tin the sanitarians have havo invoked in behalf ol oi of bettor better health has hns been beon the tho of the milk and water supplies s of the th country It has boen estimated that tha th the American citizen consumes twentythree twentythree twenty venty three gallons of milk annually Since milk is tho the principal diet of the tho sick I a aged ed and tho too infant members of so 50 tho tho three classes most susceptible ble to infection from rom intestinal diseases dis dis- ea eases its eases Hs es-Hs its protection has bas always beet beer ono Duo of the tho first nims aims of the sanitarian And no other sanitary that the th science of prevent preventive e medicine has bas yei yel I devised haa hia ha when fully enforced yielded the tho great cat returns in in public health wealth that have conic como through h milk purity regulations Water Purification Aids Water purification has been attendee attended disease by y a decline of epidemic wherever it has bas been attempted in cit ies es It has ban been estimated that the I construction of the Chicago drainage I canal janal has saved Chica Chicago o bereaved be homes and over doctors' doctors ills Dills in a lo decade Cities which their wat water r supply from frolO mOUntain moun- moun ain tain am springs which aro guarded from pollution U usually have a ft death leath rate from Tom roni intestinal diseases of all aU kinds Ic ess than half as great as that in cities which have havo no fresh protected protect cd supply Eur European peau cities are far and awa way iway ahead of the tho American cities in in inthis I this his respect and it has haa almost reached hat that point where a man who takes typhoid ty ty- hoid llOid fever has bas a case a against the tho municipality mu mu- for not protecting rom him There is not even e one exception to the ule that has obtained all over the tho world that puro pure milk and pure water havo lavo added much to tho the health of the tho which has Jas secured them I An Interesting picture of or how threat- threat ned epidemics of or diseases les are throttled lis j to be he had from tho present light which the lie he United States is making against the threatened outbreak of ot bubonic plague pla through the ports of the United States In n a the first place no ship is allowed to toome toome ome come to an any port which b bits hua s not used very precaution to o present infected Infect cd rats om orn getting aboard at ports under tho the ban ot r quarantine these precautions consisting of f tho the use of ot rat guards which are funel fun fun- fUnnel funel nel el like Uka affairs put on haws ore the largo large part art toward the dock ock Ships must also alsoc be c fumigated to insure death to rats and nd rid no trouble in lit too great grent to Insure cIr being rat fre free The plague is con- con eyed by fleas liens which first ft t bite a a. sick rat and nd ad then a human being Just j as yellow fever cr is ls transmitted by mosquitoes that ha ave V bitten a a. person who had yellow feor vor te Rats Eats and anti Squirrels When fighting the plague in ia I the ic 0 public health authorities rid ild numerous nume- nume rous us ma cities and towns of oC rats and carried on n I a wholesale killing and poisoning of I round squirrels which so frequently had hade the ic e plague and tho the plague infected fleas which were transmitted to the rats and andIn andi In i turn to the people Hundreds of or thou thou- of ot and rats nits have been lied and large Jarge squirrel free zones ur arc ure stin Ill maintained around San Francisco and nd d Oakland The Nevada mountain tacos asses are as q closely closel guarded as though n. n hostile army were threatening to come through them to prevent an Invasion lor f tho the Mississippi valley by plague plague- In- In eted squirrels Every squirrel killed Is la lait cut it t open for examination and the tho marks marIes BO so plain that In ninety ninety- or r tho tle disease are aro nino no cases out of a a. hundred the layman can ui Iu recognize it it- Those cases eases about which there is ls doubt are nrc referred to the Although h vaccination against t smallpox list of terrible epidemics opt opt- has as is wiped from tho one of the tho worst diseases In his hla- anti typhoid anti typhoid vaccination tory ry although as is cut the d death th rate late Simons among vaccinated Idlers down to one fifteenth of that mong amon their un comrades al- al lough ough diphtheria antitoxin has reduced the ie e number of fatalities to only a small mIU action traction of ot what they were before Its day there ere are still those who would convince the ie Re p public bUc that there Is nothing In these and preventive pre measures In Tn a n United States transport thero there were hundreds hun hun- reds of oC passengers ert Three were A child chih took smallpox and died All 11 it three passengers p s engers took 10 to dise disease c. c None among amon the hundreds of 1 vaccinated passengers and crew members meni mem- bers ers rs took It ll Gloucester England did tilt didot not ot t believe in compulsory n n. n nd d a an epidemic of ot 2000 cases broke out Within four tour months thereafter peo- peo c 0 were vaccinated and nd the epidemic was In Philadelphia during a a. four four- veal ear ar epidemic of smallpox 2500 cases ver ore ere admitted to the hospital ho pHal Not r-ot a aLEO who ho been beon LEO wab Vib at that of or a a. person had hl within five years Not Nol a doc doc- tor r. r nurse or student visitor took th the sease Two unvaccinated attendants ditl d. d |