PROPHYLACTIC VACCINATION 



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RATE OF TYPHOID FEVER IN THE ARMY AND IN THE CORRESPONDING AGE GROUP 

 IN CIVIL LIFE FOR THE PAST EIGHTEEN YEARS. 



* Indicates voluntary vaccination against typhoid. 



t Indicates compulsory vaccination against typhoid. 



t Civil deaths from typhoid fever; age group, 20 to 29 years. Rate per thousand of population. 



The marked change after the introduction of compulsory vaccination 

 in the Army in 1911 is most striking. It is pointed out that the increase 

 in 1917 is in large part contributed to by delay in the vaccination and 

 sanitary control of National Guardsmen. As an impressive contrast 

 the following table illustrates the vast improvement in health condi- 

 tions as compared with previous wars : 



RELATION OF MORTALITY IN THE WORLD WAR TO THAT OF PREVIOUS WARS. 



* Includes malaria, remittent and congestive fevers, 

 t Includes dysentery and diarrhea. 



During the period of the American participation in the World War 

 there were 1065 cases of typhoid fever in approximately 4,000,000 

 troops, a ratio of one case to every 3756 men. In the Spanish- American 

 War there was one case to every seven men. Colonel Russell's final 

 comment is of the greatest interest. "It is evident from these tables, 

 therefore, that anti-typhoid vaccination, carried out as it was by a per- 

 sonnel which had not been carefully trained in its administration, gave 

 a high degree of protection to our forces under the conditions of hur- 

 ried mobilization and of warfare, and reduced the rate, not only below 

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