342 The Philip'pine Journal of Science lau 



the native manner of eating favor contact infection. Yet, in spite of these 

 unfavorable conditions, there is little evidence that severe and destructive 

 epidemics of typhoid fever occur among the Filipinos. ■■' * * 



Widal reactions performed on the blood of 591 healthy Filipinos suggest 

 a comparatively recent attack of typhoid in about 6 per cent of adults, 

 but do not indicate that the disease is prevalent in childhood. 



According to Nichols -° typhoid is endemic in Samar, Leyte, 

 and Iloilo. 



Cholera. — In spite of the frequent and terrible outbreaks of 

 cholera in the Philippines in the past, it is still an open question 

 whether or not the disease is endemic. For the last few years, 

 the disease has been practically absent. It is significant to note 

 that the year from July 1,1912, to June 30, 1913, was the first on 

 record during which, so far as known, there was not a single case 

 of cholera in the Islands.-^ 



That cholera vibrios will live in water is a well-established 

 fact. They are, however, very readily destroyed. Schobl -- of 

 the Bureau of Science, who studied the vitality of cholera vibrios 

 in Manila water, kept the organism alive at room temperature 

 (25° to 27°) in sterile water for seven days, in unsterilized tap 

 water for fifty-six days, and in sea water for one hundred six 

 days. The inoculations were made with fseces. The experi- 

 ments with tap water were especially significant, since they 

 showed that the organisms may persist in ordinary water for a 

 long time. When the amounts of fseces used for inoculation were 

 small, the vibrio remained alive longer than when the amounts 

 were increased, indicating that highly polluted water is less 

 favorable to the existence of the organism than is the ordinary 

 tap water of Manila. At no time, even during the worst cholera 

 epidemics, were cholera vibrios detected in the Manila city water 

 supply. 



Entamoebic dysentery. — Entamoebic dysentery has frequently 

 been considered to be a water-borne disease, but Walker --• has 

 shown that entamoebse do not multiply in water and if present are 

 there only in the encysted form due to direct contamination by 

 human faeces. 



A large percentage of the Philippine waters examined at the 

 Bureau of Science contains amoebae. The Manila water supply 



"Ibid. (1909), 4, 282. 



'^Annual Rep. P. I. Bur. Hlth. (1912-13), 110. 



" Extract from a paper read before the Manila Medical Association, 

 April, 1914. 



'*This Journal, Sec. B (1911), 6, 259; Walker and Sellards, ibid. (1913), 

 8, 253. 



