DISTRIBUTION OF DISEASE GERMS 103 



In the city of Boston a better milk and water supply was 

 introduced during the closing decade of the last century and 

 the first decade of this century. In 1910 it was claimed that 

 about one half of the milk used in Boston was pasteurized. 

 In the light of these facts the following table, showing Boston's 

 annual death rate from typhoid fever, is instructive : 



REDUCTION OF TYPHOID FEVER ix BOSTON 1 



Ve . ir I Typhoid deaths per 



The average for 1909-1911 was 11.5 per 100,000 population. 



118. Results of anti-typhoid vaccination. Although it is 

 highly important to prevent distribution of disease germs, 

 attention should also be directed to important advances in 

 knowledge of methods of treating people so that the disease 

 may not develop even if they are exposed to it. 



During the Boer War imperfect attempts were made to 

 control typhoid fever by an antitoxin similar to that for diph- 

 theria, which has saved such multitudes of children. Gradu- 

 ally the method has been improved, so that in 1909 it was 

 recommended in our army as a voluntary protection, and 

 the results were so favorable that in 1911 it was made com 

 pulsory. It has been said that it should still be voluntary, but 

 as every case of typhoid fever imperils the health and life of 

 multitudes, we surely have a right to make it compulsory so 

 as to protect all the rest. All that is necessary to prove this 

 is to look at the tables on page 104, of cases and deaths in 

 our army and navy. 



1 Jordan, E. O., General Bacteriology. W B. Saunders Company, 1911. 



