TYPHOID FEVER IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS FROM THE 

 SANITARY STANDPOINT.' 



By Victor G. Heiser.' 

 (From the Bureau, of Health, Manila, /'. I.) 



1 desire, at the outset, to express my appreciation of the 

 opportunity which your Association has so kindly afforded me 

 to bring this subject to your notice. The question is one of 

 great importance to the PhiHppine Islands, from both a medical 

 and economical standpoint ; and is, therefore, one that may well 

 merit our attention. 



Typhoid fever has been written about in Europe and America 

 more extensively than any other disease, and its presence or 

 absence is regarded by many as the chief index of the sanitation 

 of a place. In many wars its ravages have been greater than 

 the mortality and disability from the wounds of battle. In civil 

 camps and temporary settlements it has been the chief factor 

 in causing disease and death. It has been responsible for the 

 deaths of hundreds of thousands of persons annually, and the 

 losses due to its prevalence amount to millions of dollars. How- 

 ever, the hopeful feature in connection with this disease is that 

 it is preventable, owing to the fact that the organism causing 

 it has been identified and is found only in the intestinal and 

 urinary discharges of infected persons. If these discharges are 

 disinfected or destroyed, the disease will not spread. 



In a recent article, Chamberlain,- president of the United 

 States Army Board for the Study of Tropical Diseases as They 



' Address before the Primera Asamblea Regional de Medicos y Farma- 

 ceuticos, February 8, 1912. 



* Passed assistant surpeon, United States Public Health and Marine- 

 Hospital Service; director of health for the Philippine I.slands; and 

 professor of hyjriene, College of Physicians and Surpeons, University of 

 the Philippines. 



' This Journal, Sec. B (1911), 6, 302. 



111062 4 llf) 



