THE CONTROL OF HUMAN LICE 31^ 



by mixing the prisoners, and the exchange among them of souvenirs, espe 

 cially shoulder straps under which the lice clung in masses, the lic( 

 became generally distributed. It was not long before the German armies 

 found the louse a very live problem and their scientific journals are ful 

 of papers on the control of the vermin 



In Serbia a few cases of typhus fever occurred in October, 1914 

 and in January, 1915, the disease was epidemic among Austrian prisoners 

 who were greatly crowded and necessarily compelled to live under verj 

 unsanitary conditions. The disease quickly spread from them to othei 

 individuals, and as there was no quarantine, and the Austrian prisoners 

 and the infected individuals were sent or allowed to go to various parts 

 of the country, Serbia was soon afflicted with a terrible and widespread 

 epidemic. Weakened by the ravages of war, the country was not pre- 

 pared for an epidemic and for a time typhus raged almost at will. Tht 

 majority of the Serbian doctors, who were few in number, became afflicted 

 The epidemic was at its height in April when the number of cases was 

 at least 9000 a day, but it was impossible to gauge the number of cases 

 in the rural districts. At least 100,000 men, or a quarter of the army 

 were destroyed in this epidemic which was checked by the energetic eiForts 

 of the medical officers, assisted by Dr. R. P. Strong and his American 

 colleagues. The work of the Serbian Sanitary Commission is briefly de- 

 tailed by Doctor Strong in various reports. 



In Roumania typhus fever and relapsing fever became epidemic ir 

 the winter of 1916-17 and the conditions which occurred there are verj 

 vividly portrayed by Wells and Perkins (1918). Rulison (1918) gives 

 the history and statistics of the epidemic from its beginning through th( 

 greater part of 1918, estimating 26,000 deaths from typhus fever up tc 

 February 13, 1919. 



It was inevitable that the louse should reach the western trenches 

 and contaminate them with disease, and we find that trench fever was 

 soon considered the most disabling disease of this front. Reports shoin 

 that a very high percentage of the men in the trenches became verminous 



KESERVOIRS OF LOUSE BREEDING 



Before discussing the control measures, we must also know whenc* 

 arise these infestations of lice which can infect whole nations, becaus< 

 prophylaxis must take into account the reservoirs of the pest. In th( 

 United States, where cleanliness and bathing are more or less the gen- 

 eral rule, there have never been great outbreaks of these vermin excepi 

 in time of war. In certain parts of the world, however, the louse is ar 

 ever-present associate of man. This is especially true of the ignorant anc 

 the densely populated portions of the world, the Mexican and Soutl 



