CHAPTER X 



TYPHUS FEVER 



TYPHUS fever, or, to give it its full name, Typhus 

 exanthematicus, is a disease which works terrible 

 havoc when it becomes, as it is so liable to do, 

 epidemic. It is characterised by a high fever 

 which lasts for about a fortnight, and a rash, 

 with all the usual manifestations of acute blood- 

 poisoning. The mortality is rather high, as no 

 treatment has yet been found which will prevent 

 the disease from running its normal course. 

 Careful nursing and plenty of fresh air are essential 

 to its successful treatment. 



It has been said that a full history of typhus 

 fever since the Middle Ages would be a history 

 of Europe, so closely have the vast epidemics 

 been associated with wars and famines, and so 

 hard on the heels of improvement in social con- 

 ditions has followed the abatement of the disease. 

 The peoples who lag behind in the improvement 

 in housing and general sanitation reforms are 

 those who still suffer from the ravaging epidemics. 

 Thus in Great Britain and the Western part of 

 Europe generally the disease has almost dis- 



