HEALTH IN THE PHILIPPINES. 273 



The chief surgeon of the Philippines Division, in his report covering 

 1907, states that '"The number of days lost not incident to the service 

 was 85,062 for the American troops," as against 156,267 days lost 

 incident to the service, and in further comment says : 



"The very large proportion of total nonefficiency from sickness due to causes not 

 incident to the service is the occasion of great solicitude to the authorities of the 

 division, and active efforts are being made to reduce it. Could such be eliminated 

 the health of the troops in the Archipelago would compare favorably with that 

 of the army in the United States. Of these causes venereal diseases are by far 

 the most important. * * * Eliminate malarial diseases and our admission 

 rate per thousand per annum would be 1,192. Eliminate venereal diseases and 

 the rate would be 1,178. Eliminate them both and the rate would be 969, or 

 for sickness alone 764 per thousand, a rate unequaled in our territory except in 

 Alaska. I should be glad to see this reached and have no doubt it can be if the 

 suggested means are zealously employed." 



Even by the strictest isolation of infected soldiers it will be difficult 

 for the military authorities to reduce venereal disease so long as infected 

 women near military posts are not also isolated. The responsibility for 

 their isolation rests with the civil and not the military authorities. 



Keferring to malarial fever the Surgeon-General in his report issued 

 in 1906 states : "This increase in a disease which is entirely preventable, 

 and which last year caused seven deaths and an immense amount of 

 noneffectiveness, should cause serious consideration as to the sufficiency 

 of the preventive measures heretofore taken." The natives suffered 

 more severely than the Americans from malarial fevers, but appeared to 

 be less affected by diarrhoeal diseases. 



It was formerly thought that "natives of the Philippines eat and 

 drink with comparative impunity articles of food and foul water, the 

 use of which by white men is disastrous." They certainly have no such 

 immunity to cholera, and the reports on autopsies and investigations 

 made here by Gilman, of the Philippine Medical School and Bureau of 

 Science, and by medical officers of the Army indicate that the natives do 

 not possess the heretofore supposed immunity against intestinal parasitic 



During the calendar year 1906 there were only forty-eight admissions 

 and no deaths from typhoid fever among American soldiers in the Phil- 

 ippines. There was one death from this disease among the native troops. 

 The death rate per thousand from this disease in the army in the United 

 States was 0.28. 



Comment is made upon an outbreak of beri-beri among the Filipinos 

 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the only epidemic of this disease 

 which has been reported in the United States. There were 59 cases, 

 with four deaths, among the Filipinos. No other people were affected. 

 The points of interest were the entire escape of 450 Filipino Scouts, 

 who were living in a model camp under the best sanitary conditions, and 



