The hygiene of transmissible diseases; their causation, modes of dissemination, and methods of prevention . of Pennsylvania, and finally unites with the Delawareriver to the south of the city. During December, 1897, January, and a part of February,1898, the weekly returns of the Health Officer of the cityrevealed the fact that typhoid fever had suddenly appearedin Philadelphia to such an extent as to be fairly regarded asepidemic ; the number of cases reported between November27, 1897, and March i, 1898, having been 1927 as comparedwith 628 cases for the same period o
The hygiene of transmissible diseases; their causation, modes of dissemination, and methods of prevention . of Pennsylvania, and finally unites with the Delawareriver to the south of the city. During December, 1897, January, and a part of February,1898, the weekly returns of the Health Officer of the cityrevealed the fact that typhoid fever had suddenly appearedin Philadelphia to such an extent as to be fairly regarded asepidemic ; the number of cases reported between November27, 1897, and March i, 1898, having been 1927 as comparedwith 628 cases for the same period of 1896-97 and as againsta weekly average of 40 cases for the eight weeks precedingDecember, 1897. In short, during the period- of greatestprevalence the number of cases reported weekly was some-what over three times as great as under usual conditions. Upon locating these cases the increase was found to begeneral throughout the city, but the niajorit) of the cases(about 65 per cent.) (occurred within a siiarply-circumscribedarea in the northern .section of thie city that embraces princi- TYPHOID Map of Philadelphia, with ward boundaries. 84 HYGIENE OE TRANSMISSIBLE DISEASES. pally the 15th, 20th, 28th, 29th, 32nd, 27th, and 38th wards(see shaded area on Map, page 83), having a populationrouglil)- representing only about one-fifth of the entire popu-lation (census 1890). As soon as this state of affairs became evident a carefulinspection, including chemical and bacteriological analysis ofthe milk and water-supplies of this section especially, was or-dered by the Board of Health. The results of careful studiesupon the problem by laboratory methods shed no importantlight upon the origin and mode of dissemination of the disease. It was clear to those engaged upon the investigation ^ thatthe cause of the outbreak must have been operative at someperiod antecedent to the epidemic outbreak of the disease;that infection of a large number of persons must haveoccurred simultaneousl
Size: 1374px × 1818px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubject, booksubjectdiseases
