DYSENTERY, CHOLERA INFANTUM, ETC. 141 



fantum are no doubt usually infected through the 

 medium of milk, which becomes contaminated either 

 at the dairy or after it has been brought to the city 

 in some cases no doubt by flies which have been in 

 contact with the discharges from the bowels of other 

 patients similarly affected. 



In Oriental countries where human excreta are used 

 to fertilise the soil for growing lettuce, and other 

 vegetables which are eaten without cooking, it is be- 

 lieved that dysentery is not infrequently contracted 

 through the medium of such vegetables. 



In tropical and semi-tropical countries dysentery 

 claims more victims than typhoid fever, which pre- 

 vails more extensively in regions lying within the 

 temperate zone. Among English soldiers serving in 

 India and China, more deaths occur from dysentery 

 alone than from all diseases among troops at home 

 stations. 



United States troops in the Philippine Islands have 

 suffered severely from tropical dysentery, which con- 

 stitutes the principal cause of mortality. 



The death-rate per thousand from " diarrhceal dis- 

 eases " among our soldiers in the Philippines during 

 the year 1900 was 2.02, while in the United States it 

 was o. 1 2. Epidemics of dysentery have, however, fre- 

 quently occurred within the limits of the United States, 

 and during our Civil War this and other forms of intes- 



