DISEASES PREVALENT IN THE ARMY 299 



thousand of strength. Among these there were 23 deaths from 

 the disease, making a rate of o.oi per 1000. It was distinctly 

 a war-time disease with us, since in times of peace the disease 

 is "practically non-existant in the service. It was early noted 

 that the initial lesion of the disease, that is, the place where the 

 infectious material gained entrance to the body, was on the 

 shaving area of the face. Although many of the men billeted 

 in stables and in buildings which had been used for animals, 

 and in this country they were housed in buildings recently 

 erected on ground used for animal shelters of one sort or 

 another, it is improbable that these facts were of any importance 

 in explaining the presence of the cause of the disease, since the 

 lesion was so uniformly located on the shaving area of the 

 face. This fact led to the critical examination of the articles 

 used in shaving. Naturally the brush, being made of animal 

 hair, came first under suspicion, and bacteriological examina- 

 tions soon were successful in showing the presence of the spores 

 of anthrax on the hair. Uniform reports came from all parts 

 of the country and left little doubt but that the troops were 

 being furnished by the Quartermaster with infected brushes. 

 On the recommendation of the Surgeon General, the issue of 

 the brushes in stock in all depots was suspended until they 

 could be examined and disinfected. In the meantime, the 

 United States Public Health Service was informed of the un- 

 usual prevalence of the disease, and was requested to institute 

 an inspection service of the factories furnishing shaving brushes 

 to the army, and to make recommendations regarding those 

 whose output it was safe to purchase. The Public Health 

 Service reported that previous to the war most of the cheaper 

 grades of shaving brushes were produced in Germany, and that 

 the German manufacturers were accustomed to using hair from 

 Siberia, Manchuria and China, and knew that it needed radical 

 disinfection. In this country, when the customary source of 

 supply was cut off, brush factories of every sort, including those 

 which had never before produced anything but paint brushes, 

 began the manufacture of shaving brushes, without any idea 



