The Silent Killer in Our Homes
Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the U.S. Bureau of Entomology, warns Tacoma citizens that the common housefly is a deadly vector for disease.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It is demonstrated beyond question that the fly—what people used to call the housefly—is the principal cause of typhoid fever. It is also a big causative factor in tuberculosis and intestinal diseases. Take the Spanish-American War for example. It furnishes the most striking instance of the danger of the typhoid fly. Typhoid fever caused 80 percent of all the deaths in that war; it was four times as fatal as the Spaniards' bullets. The real cause, as a medical commission learned, was the typhoid fly. It thrives in the city, where it can spread the thousands of germs it carries among thousands of people. As the horse is used less by people in coming years due to the increased use of automobiles, the fly, having no breeding place, may die—or at least be less of a menace. But in the meanwhile, it is highly important for people to be on their guard. City ordinances governing stables and the disposition of refuse, and the placing of screens in windows and doors of homes by individuals, will help much.
“Typhoid was four times as fatal as the Spaniards' bullets.”
While we no longer fear the housefly as a primary source of typhoid, this article highlights the historical evolution of public health and the shift from animal-based infrastructure (stables) to the automobile age in urban planning.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.