1908] on the Extinction of Malta Fever. 15 



Desceiption of Malta Fever. 



At the outset it will be necessary to give a short description of this 

 fever, in order that you may know what we are dealing with. 



Malta fever is no trivial complaint, but is a severe and dangerous 

 disease, which lasts a long time, and is accompanied by a good deal 

 of pain. To give yon an idea of the long duration of this fever, I 

 may tell you that our soldiers remain under treatment in hospital with 

 it on an average for 120 days, and it is by no means uncommon for a 

 patient to suffer almost continually from it for two or even more years. 



During the whole course of his illness the patient is apt to suffer 

 from severe rheumatic pains in the joints, and neuralgia in various 

 nerves, and this combined with the long-continued fever, brings about 

 a condition of extreme emaciation and weakness, from which recovery 

 is slow. 



In order to show you to what a degree of emaciation a few weeks 

 of this fever may bring a man, I will take the liberty of throwing on 

 the screen a photograph of a soldier who has been suffering from it 

 for a few weeks. [Here a picture of a man extremely thin and evi- 

 dently very ill was thrown on the screen.] 



On admission to hospital this man was a robust and muscular 

 soldier, and now see what a few weeks have brought him to. 



Incidence of Malta Fever in the 

 Garrison. 



Next I would draw your attention to the number of cases of this 

 fever which occur among our sailors and soldiers in Malta, in oi'der 

 to impress upon you the importance of this disease to the State. 

 Among our soldiers, who number about 7000, there have been on an 

 average 312 adlnissions to hospital every year from Malta fever alone, 

 and among the sailors about the same number. This means that 

 624 soldiers and sailors have been treated in hospital 120 days each, 

 which makes about 75,000 days of illness per annum. 



To illustrate this I throAv on the screen a diagram (Fig. 1). 



Now I have said enough to show you that we are dealing with a 

 severe and important form of disease. 



Study of Malta Fever from the Epidemiological 

 Point of View. 



Before we begin the experimental investigation of this fever, it is 

 well that we should know as much as possible about it from a general 

 point of view. For example : In what parts of the world is it found ; 

 under what conditions of climate ; whether any connection can be 



