Decbmbeb 1909. ■ 675 



DBATHS FROM TVPHOU) FEVER IN HAVANA 



By Dr. Domingo de PARA 



The gpnpral i-nivc shown iii (he diagram proves very evidently that there 

 has heeii a imtabir d e i- r !■ a s e in the luortality from T y p h o i d F e v e r 

 ¡11 Havaiia, a iliininiitinii wliich is more proiiouueed if we compare the year 

 1899. wliii'li has aii avcrage of 11.66 deaths per month, wit.h 1908, to which there 

 correspoiuls aii averagc; of H.S. We regret not to be able to include 1909, sinee 

 we have not the statisties for the last 4 months of the year; but iii spite of all, 

 we si'(^ tlial tile death r a t c in 1909 has d e e i" e a s (! d, the 8 moiiths 

 for whieh figures are avnilahle giving an average of 5.25. This favorable result 

 iiiiisl lie .'iltrilMilrd tn tli<' /.cal shown by oiir Na ti un a. I Bnard of 

 H (' a 1 t h. 



In the accompaying curve we find that llie recrudeseenee eorrespoiids to 

 the lieginning of s p r i n g, maintaining itself high, although with a slight 

 remission and rcaehing its highest |)0Ínt in summer; the defervescenee be- 

 gins at the end of the summer season. The period of greatest intensity of 

 this disease in diba does not coincide with the period in Europe, which, ac- 

 rordiiiK <o Dr. 1) i eu 1 afoy, i.s in a n tu m n. 



A cnrious faet is also to be noted, namely that after the curve has been 

 high one year it maintains itself low for two .years, apjiearing high again on 

 the thii-d. This sliould not be ovcrlooked. sincc it might furnish the key to the 

 alniost complete, if nof total eradication of the disease. It seems in fact that 

 with these triennial exacerbations the virulence of the baeillns is 

 a t t e n u a t e d d u r i n g two years to beeome more virulent on the 

 third year. Or that when an.v outbreak of T .y p h o i d Pe ver occurs, the 

 energetic sanitary measures adopted suecced in detaining the propagation of 

 the baeillus, reducing it to narrower limits. 



Dnring the eleven years which we have studied, we have had t h r e e 

 e ]) i d e m i c s: one in April of 1899, another in Jul.y of 1902, and the third 

 in August of 1907. But it happens that in 1906 the curve sustained itself 

 lowest, giving an average death rate of 4.41, this great deferves- 

 cenee being followed by the epidemia of 1907. 



Camagüey, December, 1909. 



