Preliminary Report on Contagious

Diseases.

Small Pox and its Prophylaxis.

BY E. L. GRIFFIN, M. D., OF FOND DU LAC,

PRESIDENT OF

THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.

1* S. P. H.

SMALL-POX AND ITS PROPHYLAXIS.

Among the preventable diseases Small-pox, by universal consent, stands pre-eminent, and therefore claims the most careful and patient consideration of every student of sanitary science. It belongs to that class of diseases which are called preventable because we know of means by which we may reasonably expect to prevent it, and in this way diminish the general mortality of the State. Infectious diseases, regarded by sanitarians as preventable, destroy many thousands of persons annually, besides carrying an untold amount of suffering and anxiety into the homes of the community.

It is not within the compass of this report to examine at length all the interesting and important features of this disease, but rather in plain and simple terms group together some facts of great interest which may be calculated to arrest the attention of the citizens of the State, with the hope that they may more fully appreciate and apply the simple preventive measures which are so cheap and so universally available.

We regret that we are not able to give statistics showing the absolute mortality from small-pox in the State for the last decade, or even for the last twelve months, but we are happy to believe that it has been small in comparison with that of many of the other States, nevertheless, during every year, there are more or less deaths from it. In an unexpected day and in a way not anticipated, it enters many homes and in its loathsome manner takes away the dearest treasures of the household, embittering the grief of the sorrowing with the painful consciousness that it might not have been. "Our real happiness," says one, "must ever depend more upon community of health, than on pecuniary or any other circumstances, and it is to little purpose we labor to benefit ourselves, if the fruits of such labors are not shared by those on whom our affections rest. The loss of a child at any period of our lives is a dreadful calamity. Even when it comes upon us without warning under the dispensation of Providence, few can bear it with indifference; but when it is the direct instrumentality of a disease which might have been avoided, and the means of doing so was placed within our easy reach, compunctions and regret of the keenest kind cannot fail to overtake us.'

The very general exemption which the State may have enjoyed during the past few years from the ravages of this disease has served immensely to increase the danger from its approach in the future.

Mankind are so generally indifferent and careless as to any duty or danger which does not immediately confront them, that the means of protection against this disease is most alarmingly neg

lected, and year by year the State is being filled by an elementunprotected-of all ages, which only awaits a tidal wave of smallpox, in which a large number of our citizens cannot fail to be swept away. It is quite likely that, excepting the larger cities lying along the thoroughfares of travel, and which are for this reason peculiarly exposed to an outbreak of small-pox, the inhabitants of a very large proportion of the towns in the State have, to a great extent, neglected the duty of vaccination. Our public schools, with few exceptions, are filled with unprotected children and youth.

In former times the great difficulties and slowness of communication protected mankind in a great degree from the ravages of contagious diseases; but in these later days the facilities for travel have so marvelously increased, as well as the herd of idle tramps that infest the State, that the danger to society, from frequent outbreaks and the spread of contagious diseases, has become very great.

The mortality from contagious and infectious diseases, at the present day, forms an extraordinarily large proportion of the total number of deaths, and this fact shows the great necessity of guarding against the extension of epidemic diseases by availing ourselves of all possible means of protection.

Under the United States registration, by the census of 1870, there were reported 4,507 deaths from small-pox in the United States for the twelve months ending June first, 1870. Of this number 2,012, or 44.64 per cent., were under five years of age. The number of deaths from this disease in Wisconsin during those twelve months were 104, of which number 52, or just 50 per cent., were under five years of age.

In the State of New York there were 582 deaths from this cause, and 318 of this number, or 54.81 per cent., were under five years of age. In Ohio there were 332 deaths, while 216, or 65 per cent., were under five years of age. It is fair to infer that these figures are an approximate index to the annual deaths from small-pox throughout ali the States, and that the ratio of mortality of those under five years of age will annually be equal to that of 1870. It is quite likely, also, that with reference to the 2,012 deaths in all the States under five years of age, and of the 52 reported in Wisconsin, that but a small per cent. of them had ever been vaccinated at all, and that, with reference to those upon whom the operation had been performed, it was a total failure, either through an imperfect or unskillful operation, or by the use of inert and worthless virus.

These facts should direct attention to the statements already made, that there is a wide and general neglect of the duty of vaccination-that all our public schools contain more or less pupils who have not been thoroughly vaccinated, and that the number of unprotected and hence exposed persons in the State, now already fearfully large, is being annually increased.

Accepting the figures of 1870 as the proximate annual deaths from small-pox, and allowing the very liberal ratio of one death to every five cases of the disease, and we have the yearly number of