128 THE HOUSE FLY DISEASE CARRIER 



veyed by flies' legs is not common in times of peace, 

 "infection by the excrement of flies bred in infected 

 material explains many conclusions formerly difficult 

 to accept." 



Chronic Carriers 



It becomes necessary at this stage to discuss the ques- 

 tion of persons who become chronic carriers of typhoid 

 germs, giving them out in their excreta and in their 

 urine for perhaps many years. The application of this 

 phenomenon to the fly question will be dealt with later. 

 It was known in the United States prior to the Span- 

 ish-American War that typhoid patients would give out 

 bacilli in this way before the disease was diagnosed, 

 and it was also known that some of them would give 

 out the germs for perhaps several weeks after the fever 

 abated and the patient was practically cured. And of 

 course the walking typhoid or "ambulatory enteric" 

 was known to exist; that is to say, slight cases which 

 did not bring the patient to bed but during which germs 

 must have been given off. True chronic carriers were 

 not known in this country at that time, and the develop- 

 ment of this extremely important phase of the typhoid 

 question has been a recent one. The phenomenon was 

 known in Germany before it was brought vividly to 

 the attention of the American people. 



The first case here to receive general notice was that 

 of "Typhoid Mary," an Irish cook, who was discovered 

 by Dr. George A. Soper, of New York. She had been 

 cook with a family on Long Island, and during the 

 summer of 1906 several cases of typhoid occurred. The 



