TYPHOID AND WATER - 1904

TYPHOID

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 2/17/2017 at 09:37:41

Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, Jan. 4, 1903

TYPHOID AND WATER
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It is the opinion of Dubuque physicians that most of the typhoid fever prevalent here, is directly attributable to the consumption of impure water. The supply furnished by the city is healthful and wholesome but that drawn from wells and cisterns in which dire has been suffered to accumulate, contains typhoid germs in abundance. Chicago, compelled to use lake water is in the throes of typhoid epidemic. A news reporting one of the dailies reports:
“Typhoid fever is gathering in victims at an interesting rate during the last three weeks, as compared with last year, on account of the first winds from the east, which have stirred up the lake. The health department has been sending out warnings day by day, hoping that the color of the water from the faucets will induce users to refrain from drinking it until it has been boiled. The department has been reporting that the water from all the pumping stations has been bad for the last two weeks, and the filters will not get rid of the bacilli. Boiling water for twenty minutes is considered the only way of purifying it.

The death rate from typhoid fever has been very high the last three weeks, compared with the corresponding three weeks of last year the rate is alarmingly high. For the week ending yesterday the deaths from typhoid fever was thirty-nine compared with five for the corresponding week last year. For the week ending December 20th the death was thirty-five against six last year, and for the week ending December 29th it was thirty-eight compared with nine.”

There would be ninety percent fewer cases of typhoid in Dubuque if the consumption of well and cistern water was stopped. The city water, pumped from artesian wells, contains nothing injurious to health. It ought to be apparent that the economy that saves water bills and incurs’ doctor bills, is expensive and luxurious. The health department should regard it as a duty it owes the public to condemn wells in which typhoid germs are lodged.