Norfolk. First Congressional District. CHAS. R. GRANDY, M. D................. Second Congressional District. J. B. FISHER, M. D...... Third Congressional District. O. C. WRIGHT, M. D....... Fourth Congressional District. LEWIS E. HARVIE, M. D.... Fifth Congressional District. R. W. MARTIN, M. D...... Sixth Congressional District. S. P. LATANE, M. D... . . . Seventh Congressional District. W. M. SMITH, M. D....... Eighth Congressional District. J. H. DUNKLEY, M. D... Ninth Congressional District. REID WHITE, M. D...... Tenth Congressional District. City of Richmond. .Midlothian. .Jarratts. Danville. .Lynchburg. Winchester. Alexandria. Saltville. Lexington. GEO. BEN JOHNSTON, M. D.; STUART MCGUIRE, M. D. HEALTH VOL. I. DEPARTMEN SEPTEMBER, 1908 BULLETIN No. 3 THIS NUMBER CONTAINS INFORMATION CONCERNING THE TYPHOID FEVER A DISEASE THAT CAN BE PREVENTED. "Health and the protection of life are more precious to the people, and more necessary to their happiness, than even the extension of our commerce, the fostering of our agricultural interests, the solving of our financial problems, the cheapness or efficiency of our postal service, the improvement of our rivers and harbors, or the enlargement of our navy." From a resolution adopted by the Board of Trade of the City of New York. These Bulletins sent free to anyone requesting them. Upon request copies sent to physicians for distribution to patients. Entered as second-class matter July 28, 1908, at the post-office at Richmond, Virginia, It is as unreasonable to suppose that all dust is laden with diseaseproducing germs, and that deadly bacteria are lurking in all dirt as it is to suppose that venomous snakes are hiding in all long grass and that ravenous beasts are prowling in every dense forest. The person that fears dangerous germs in everything is as much an ignoramus as he who denies the existence of germs. There was a time when typhoid fever and tuberculosis were unknown in the homes of Virginia. No typhoid germ can get into the food or drink of a person except it comes from the intestinal discharges of a patient who has, or has recently had typhoid fever. No tuberculosis bacillus can get into the dust except it comes from the sputum of a person suffering from consumption. Nowhere is a little learning so dangerous as in that science which treats of the causes and cure of disease. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." "Science is systematized truth." EXTENT IN VIRGINIA. Since there is no State law requiring the doctors or others to report cases of typhoid fever, or even to register deaths from it, there are no accurate statistics on this subject. As far as can be estimated by local health officers and from the statistics of those cities of the State whose laws require registration, it is estimated that about ten thousand citizens of Virginia suffer from typhoid every year, and every year one thousand of the flower of the youth of the State are offered up to this preventable disease. The money loss is about ten millions of dollars a year. This is twice as much as the total expenditures of the whole State Government; so that the tribute exacted by this one disease from our citizens is twice as much as the sum paid by them for the support of the State. No special class bears this burden. It affects the homes of the richest and the poorest alike, and levies its tax of sickness, and sorrow and death. THE CAUSE OF TYPHOID FEVER. It The cause of typhoid fever is now known to be a germ. was discovered by Eberth, a German, in 1880. This germ is specific, that is to say, is not found elsewhere in nature and is always found in a patient with the disease. A germ is a living thing and one germ is descended from another of the same kind. A germ cannot develop spontaneously. The propagation and multiplication of the typhoid germ is practically confined to the intestines of a person sick with typhoid. One case of typhoid comes from another case. The disease is contracted by swallowing the germs. Not every person who swallows the germs gets the disease. Soine have a socalled resistance that enables them to overcome the germ, even in comparatively large doses. Others without this resistance get the disease from even very small doses. |