IH) THE MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



a difficult matter to decide upon, owing to the influences of many vary- 

 ing local factors. As a general proposition, however, sanitarians are 

 inclined to regard as more or less suspicious the public water supply of 

 a city where the death rate regularly or usually exceeds thirty per 

 100.000, and where such rates are not largely explained by epidemics 

 due to factors other than the water supply." 



The average t.yphoid fever death rate in Detroit, for the four years 

 referred to was eighteen per 100,000 and at no time during the past 

 nine years has our death rate exceeded twenty in 100,000. In keeping 

 with this finding are the results of repeated analyses of our drinking 

 water. The Detroit water is examined at least once every month by the 

 chemist and bacteriologist of the board of health, and at no time during 

 recent years has it been found in anything but a^safe condition and usu- 

 ally it is found to be excellent. According to these reports we must look 

 for the cause of our cases of typhoid fever somewhere outside of the 

 drinking water. Besides the water supply there are two other ways in 

 which typhoid fever is spread, one way is by personal contact and this 

 is usually limited to military camps or other similar surroundings. In 

 such places many cases of the disease' are crowded together and by 

 means of soiled bed clothing or infected articles of wearing apparel, 

 the specified organism of the disease may get on to the hands of per- 

 sons not previously infected who may then infect themselves. The other 

 common carrier of the typhoid fever germ is the house fly. Dr. M. J. 

 Koseuau, Director of the United States Hygienic Laboratory at Wash- 

 ington, D. C, in a valuable book on "Disinfection and Disinfectants'' 

 says : "Flies are responsible for much of the spread of typhoid fever. 

 They breed in and feed upon the dejecta and the infected discharges, 

 thereby conveying the infection directly to the food supply. It is easy to 

 understand how flies and other insects with similar habits, carry the 

 typhoid bacilli smeared upon their feet and bodies, ..as well as in the 

 intestinal contents, thereby contaminating the meat, the butter and other 

 foods, especially the milk, in which this organism grows so well." The 

 Commission appointed by the United States Government to investigate 

 the causes of typhoid fever among the United States soldiers in the south 

 at the time of the late war with Spain, found that the house fly, as a car- 

 rier of the typhoid germ, was one of three causes of the spread of the 

 disease, the other two causes being infected water supplies and personal 

 contact by the close housing together of many soldiers in crowded and 

 unsanitary camps. It would seem then that the house fly must be con- 

 sidered an important factor in the spread of typhoid fever. What does 

 this mean? A very concise and appropriate answer is found in an edi- 

 torial on "Flies as Disseminators of Disease," which appeared in "Ameri- 

 can Medicine," June 22, 1901. The article says, in part : "More efi'ective 

 measures are needed for destroying flies and preventing their multiplica- 

 tion. Until some successful method has been devised for exterminating 

 flies, special care should be taken to prevent their access to sputum, pus 

 and other infectious material ; fruits and foodstuffs should be thoroughly 

 cooked or washed if flies have been allowed to come in contact with them 

 and should be protected from flies after j)reparation for use." The in- 

 dividual householder can protect himself and his family from the typhoid 

 carrying pests by means of screens and the housewife can add further 

 ]>rotection by giving such care to the foods as described above, but the 



