Abstract
IN answer to a question as to typhoid in the Army, asked in the House of Commons on February 8, Mr. Tennant, Under-Secretary of State for War, said:—Of the 421 cases of typhoid in the present campaign among Brifish troops 305 cases were in men who were not inoculated within two years. In the 421 cases there have been thirty-five deaths. Of these deaths thirty-four were men who had not been inoculated within two years. Only one death occurred among patients who were inoculated, and that man had only been inoculated once, instead of the proper number of times—namely, twice.” This is a marvellous record; and no further answer than it provides is needed to the inhuman efforts made by anti-vaccinationists to induce men to object to inoculation by which such protection is secured. Replying to some carping criticisms against inoculation made by Mr. Chancellor in the House of Commons on February 9, Dr. Addison pointed out that in the South African war there were 58,000 cases of typhoid—more than an Army Corps—whereas in our great force now in France and Belgium, and after six months, including three months of atrocious weather, there have only been 421 cases among our troops. The total losses in South Africa were 22,000, of which about 14,000 deaths were from diseases and 8000 of these were from typhoid. When we compare this immense sacrifice of human life from preventible disease with the record stated above, we can only wonder at the patience of the British people in permitting a prejudiced faction to urge men not to subject themselves to a treatment by which they save others ind themselves from suffering and death.
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Notes . Nature 94, 647–652 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/094647b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/094647b0