Abstract of report on the origin and spread of typhoid fever in U.S. military camps during the Spanish War of 1898U.S. Government Printing Office, 1900 - 239 pages |
Common terms and phrases
August 15 August 20 blood examinations Camp Alger Camp Meade cent Chickamauga Creek Chickamauga Park chill command Company contamination convalescence deaths from typhoid developed typhoid fever diagnosis diar diarrhea disinfection division hospital Eberth bacillus eight regiments fact fecal matter Fort Snelling germ Illinois Infantry infected with typhoid intestinal disorder Jacksonville July 30 June large number malarial diseases malarial fever malarial parasites mean strength medical officers ments Missouri MORN EVEN MORN national encampments number of deaths occurred Ohio patients Pennsylvania Percentage of deaths phoid preceding probable typhoid fever quinine recognized typhoid fever regi regiments Second Army Corps Second Brigade Second Division Seventh Army Seventh Army Corps sinks soil soldiers spread of typhoid spring stools surgeon temperature tertian Third Army Corps Third Division tion Total number troops typhoid bacillus typhoid fever August typhoid fever July typhoid fever September Virginia Volunteer Infantry water supply weeks Widal test York
Popular passages
Page 178 - ... should be assembled in any section and kept in a camp the sanitary conditions of which were perfect, one or more cases of typhoid fever would develop. 12. Typhoid fever is disseminated by the transference of the excretions of an infected individual to the alimentary canals of others.
Page 183 - My reasons for believing that flies were active in the dissemination of typhoid may be stated as follows : a Flies swarmed over infected fecal matter in the pits and then visited and fed upon the food prepared for the soldiers at the mess tents. In some instances where lime had recently been sprinkled over the contents of the pits, flies with their feet whitened with lime were seen walking over the food.
Page 185 - When a command badly infected with typhoid fever changes its location, it carries the specific agents of the disease in the bodies of the men, in their clothing, bedding and tentage.
Page 184 - ... the water supply, troops in the field should be provided with means for the sterilization of water. 28. Flies undoubtedly served as carriers of the infection. 29. It is more than likely that men transported infected material on their persons or in their clothing and thus disseminated the disease. 30. Typhoid fever, as it developed in the regimental organizations, was characterized by a series of company epidemics, each one having more or less perfectly its own individual characteristics.
Page 176 - Typhoid fever may be generated independently of a previous case by fermentation of fecal, and perhaps other forms of organic matter. Translated into the terms of modern medicine, this theory is founded upon the belief that the colon germ may undergo a ripening process by means of which its virulence is so increased and altered that it may be converted into the typhoid bacillus, or at least may become the active agent in the causation of typhoid fever. Many French, English and American army medical...
Page 190 - About one-fifth of the soldiers in the national encampments in the United States in 1898 developed typhoid fever.
Page 231 - The first pits at Knoxville contained, before the first twenty-four hours had passed after the arrival of the troops, fecal matter infected with the typhoid bacillus. Flies swarmed everywhere. Instead of abating, the disease increased. The soldiers were using the same water used exclusively by the citizens of West Knoxville, and among the latter there was not at that time a case of typhoid fever.
Page 184 - ... comrades. The most of these men were wholly ignorant of the nature of the infection or the methods of disinfection. In fact, at one of the division hospitals we saw orderlies go from the hospital and partake of the midday meal without even washing their hands. These men handled not only the articles of food which they ate, but passed articles to their neighbors. It seems to us that a more certain method of disseminating an infectious disease could hardly have been invented.
Page 176 - camp diarrhea " is of the commonest occurrence among troops shortly after taking the field in a tropical or sub-tropical climate. Change of habits, change of food, improper or unsuitable food, bad water, heat, and exposure to sun and chill — these are all obvious factors in its causation; there is nothing in any way specific. Let us consider the sequel as regards the individual and as regards bis surroundings.
Page 24 - There is insufficient space between the wards, the grounds are not adequately ditched, and the approach to the patients' sinks is very poor. The sinks themselves are very bad. The hospital is not divided into brigades. The Red Cross supplies about one-half of the clothing and the bedding. The floors that have been supplied the tents were furnished by regimental means. The hospital fund started with $50, and there was $48 at the end of the month, but considerable expenditures had been made by emergency...