42 
TYPHOID FEVER IH DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
RACE. 
Five hundred and eighty-eight cases were among whites and 278 
among negroes. According to the police census for the spring of 1906 
there were in the District of Columbia 95,018 negroes. Thus negroes 
compose 29.10 per cent of the population, while the cases of typhoid 
fever among them composed 32.10 per cent of the total number 
studied. 
The higher rate for the period among the negroes possibly may be 
accounted for by the larger proportion of the colored population 
remaining in the city during the summer months. As is shown by 
the reports of the health officer of the District of Columbia when 
longer periods of time, such as a calendar year, are considered, the 
typhoid fever morbidity rate of the whites is usually higher than that 
of the colored. The law requiring cases of typhoid fever in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia to be reported was not enacted until February, 1902. 
During the period from February 26 to December 31, 1902, there 
were reported 5.12 white cases for each 1,000 of white population and 
5 colored cases for each 1,000 of colored population. During the 
calendar year 1903 the rate was 3.78 per 1,000 for the white and 3.08 
per 1,000 for the colored race; during 1904, 3.29 for the white and 
2.88 for the colored; during 1905, 3.5 for the white and 3.13 for the 
colored. 
While the incidence of the disease during each year of which 
we have statistics is less on the colored population than on the white, 
the death rate, as shown in Table No. 1, page 58, is higher among the 
colored. The lower morbidity rate reported among members of 
the colored race may be due to a relatively smaller number of cases 
among them being recognized and reported as typhoid, while the 
higher mortality rate may be due to the less favorable conditions 
under which cases in the colored race are generally treated. How- 
ever, it is possible that members of the colored race, due to tissue 
peculiarities, are, when equally exposed, less susceptible to the infec- 
tion than are whites, but when the disease is contracted they 
offer less resistance to its progress and consequently succumb more 
readily. 
When we consider the large number of negroes in Washington living 
in crowded and generally insanitary courts and alleys, we would 
expect that if contact and flies play a very great part in the transmis- 
sion of typhoid fever in the District of Columbia there would be more 
cases relatively among the negro population than among the white 
population of the city. The contrary, however, seems to be the case. 
