TYPHUS IN EUROPE.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 November 1920, Page 3

TYPHUS IN EUROPE.

LOND(3N> Sept. 9. Western Europe is threatened with a greater scourge than war. The typhus epidemic in Russia, Poland, and Galicia is travelling westward. Germans n.ay check its progress in mid-Europe, but there is so much traffic between the afflicted countries and this that our Health department fears an invasion of this terrible pest. In order to combat tile disease before it spreads much farther, Mr Balfour, on behalf of the Council of the League of Nations, lias issued an appeal to the various Governments for the immediate provision of £250,000, out of the two millions which experts report to be necessary to combat this epidemic. The disease has teen terrible in Russia. An eminent doctor who has just returned from that country tells us that scarcely a town or village has escaped. Half the doctors engaged in combating the plague have died. From this centre of infection there is an unceasing stream of emigrants to Poland, Galicia, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and they even reach England. Early on in the war our Health departments took special precautions to exclude, or handle, the great volume of disease which was expected to reach this country as a consequence of the war. Up to the present time we have not had any outbreak of typhus here, but the subject is causing considerable anxiety. Chip standard of health is not a l its best. The high price of food, and the shortage of housing for the poor, create a predisposition that favours the spread of this disease, if once i - fairly makes a lodgment in this country. It is now well known that the true carrier of typhus is the common louse. The medical officer of health for London gives us some interesting details on that subject, notwithstanding that they arc bound to he unsavoury. For instance, ht stages that last year more than two million children were examined in the metropolis, of whom half a million were found to be verminous. During the war the numbei of children taken to the cleansing stations gradually increased. Every child now attending the public elementary schools is carefully examined, and treated, if necessary, and the most recent statistics show that this " ork lias not been in vain. Nevertheless, if infection arrives, the parasites are ready to spread it. And there are other towns that are worse than London, notably Glasgow and Dublin.