Abstract
ACCORDING to the War Department, the army training in the United States is in better health than ever during war-time. It is anticipated that the general hospital admission rate in 1942 will be about 10 percent lower than in 1941. Venereal disease is substantially less than during the War of 1914-18, the syphilis rate being the lowest in army history. The total venereal diseases rate was 40-5 per 1,000 men in 1941 and 38 per 1,000 during the first six months of 1942. Throughout 1941 and thus far in 1942, the death-rate has been the lowest in army history. During this period, from one half to two thirds of the deaths resulted from external causes such as traffic accidents. The meningitis fatality rate in the army is far below that in civil life. The malaria rate per 1,000 men in the Continental United States was only 0-61 for the first eight months of 1942 as compared with 1-24 in 1941. Universal vaccination has virtually eliminated smallpox, and rigid sanitary control and inoculation have rendered typhoid almost non-existent. The incidence of scarlet fever is now extremely low.
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Health of the United States Army. Nature 150, 631 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150631b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/150631b0