90 
TYPHOID FEVER IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
In the second annual report of the Board of Health of Connecticut 
for 1882 an interesting single case of typhoid fever is cited as prob- 
ably derived from ice. 
Dorange ® (1898) described an epidemic of typhoid fever attrib- 
uted to ice among 8 lieutenants in a regiment stationed at Rennes 
in the autumn of 1895. The implication of the ice in this instance 
rests upon a doubtful chain of evidence, however, and no mention 
is made of other possible factors. 
Hutchins and Wheeler ^ (1903) report an epidemic of typhoid 
fever in the St. Lawrence State Hospital, 3 miles below Ogdensburg, 
N. Y., which seems to have been due to impure ice. The disease 
was endemic in the hospital for ten years, increasing from 2 cases 
with the opening of the hospital in 1890 to 40 cases in 1900. Although 
the water supply, tested bacteriologically and chemically, gave nega- 
tive results, all observers agreed that the disease was water borne. 
In December, 1900, the source of the water supply was changed to 
the Oswegatcliie River, a small Adirondack stream supplying Ogdens- 
burg. This practically put a stop to the disease, for there were no 
cases of typhoid that were not clearly contracted elsewhere until 
October, 1902. 
Following this eight persons were attacked, seven of whom were 
employees of the dining room. It seems the milk ^Yould not have 
been infected.’’ The water was excluded and other sources studied 
with negative results. The ice fell under suspicion; it had recently 
been taken from a newly opened ice house. The ice had been taken 
from the St. Lawrence at about the same spot as the ice previously 
used. It was gathered in February, and consequently had been 
stored for seven months. This ice disclosed a contamination of 
30,400 bacteria per cubic centimeter on agar plates and 50,400 on 
gelatin. Of 8 fermentation tubes 3 showed evidence of organic 
contamination in the form of the colon bacillus. 
The stock of ice was then examined. In the center of certain 
cakes were found foreign substances in the form of black or dark 
brown granular matter. Examined under the microscope this mat- 
ter was found to be teeming with bacteria, from which both the colon 
and typhoid bacillus were isolated in pure culture. 
With the discontinuance of the use of this infected ice the epidemic 
gradually subsided. There were in all 39 cases. 
While it appears probable that milder intestinal diseases may be 
caused by ice highly polluted with decomposing organic matter, of 
“Dorange: Epidemie de fievre typhoide du a I’ingestion de glace impure. Rev. 
d’Hyg., vol. 20, 1898, p. 295. 
& Hutchings, R. H., and Wheeler, A. W.: An epidemic of typhoid fever due to 
impure ice. Am. Journ. Med. Sci., vol. 126, 1903, p. 680. 
