TYPHOID FEVER IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
41 
CONTACTS. 
Cases in house (six months prior), . Cases in house near by (six months prior), 
. Association with infection, . 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Domestic animals on premises: Dogs, . Cats, . Cows, . Horses, 
Guinea pigs, . Birds, . Other animals, . 
Disposal of feces and urine, . 
Other means to prevent spread of infection: 
SUMMARY. 
Remarks: . 
(Signature of investigator.) 
All residences within the District of Columbia from which cases 
were reported were visited and inspected. The data relative to food, 
drink, etc., for the thirty da}^s prior to the onset of illness were 
obtained b}^ carefully questioning the patients themselves when their 
condition permitted it, also their relatives, and other persons acquainted 
with the patients’ habits. In many instances it was necessary to 
make several visits to a home in order to gather all of the data desired 
for a given case. Statistics based upon statements obtained in this 
manner are subject to a certain amount of error; }^et by exercising 
care and patience it was endeavored to reduce this error to a mini- 
mum. The great interest taken by the people of the District of 
Columbia in the t}q)hoid-fever situation made the conditions favor- 
able for obtaining full and correct information. Of the large number 
of persons interviewed in regard to cases, there were only two or 
three who did not show an apparent desire to aid us all they could in 
the investigation, and in only one instance was a sanitary inspection 
of the premises refused. 
Of the 866 cases studied, the following data relative to sex, race, 
age, etc., were obtained: 
SEX. 
Four hundred and sixty-six cases occurred in males and 400 cases 
in females. According to the police census taken during the spring 
of 1906 the population of the District of Columbia consists of 157,303 
males and 169,132 females, a total of 326,435 persons. Thus, while 
the males compose 48.18 per cent and the females 51.81 per cent of 
the population, 53.81 per cent of the cases reported were among 
males and 46.18 per cent were among females, showing a some- 
what higher typhoid-fever morbidity among the males than among 
the females. Two conditions, no doubt, contribute to the higher rate 
among the males; first, due to habits of occupation, etc., men are 
more exposed to infection, and, secondly, during the summer months, 
when the disease is most prevalent in Washington, a relatively larger 
number of women than men leave the city. 
