TYPHUS FEVER 117 



before the invading hordes. In Moldavia, a 

 territory normally occupied by about two and 

 a half million people, the population was tem- 

 porarily doubled by the retreat and the presence 

 of about a million Russian troops. Food was 

 naturally scarce when so many extra mouths had 

 to be filled, and as it was winter the absence of 

 fuel was bitterly felt, while transport was in- 

 adequate. The numerous refugees, ill-clothed 

 and badly nourished, were in a pitiable state, 

 crowding together in their dirty rags, and with- 

 out blankets to keep out the cold. Early in the 

 winter relapsing fever made its appearance and 

 spread rapidly, while in February the more 

 terrible typhus also began to rage in a country 

 where it was previously almost unknown, and 

 consequently was not at first recognised. Both 

 diseases continued to spread, and increase into 

 April and May, when warmer weather and some 

 return of organisation led to their control. 



Wells and Perkins write : l " Now arose a 

 situation that can only be compared to the 

 descriptions in Defoe's Journal of the Plague 

 Year. The stricken population fled hither and 

 thither to escape infection, or to find food, 

 warmth, and shelter, and so they spread the 

 disease until it is probable that nearly a million 

 were infected in a population, including the 

 armies, of something less than 5,000,000. Stories 

 are told of horrors piled on horrors of trains 



1 The Journal of the American Medical Association, March 16, 1918. 



