COMBATING TROPICAL DISEASES IN THE PHILIPPINES BY SCIENTIFIC METHODS

TROPICAL DYSENTERY  At the time of the American occupation of the Philippine Islands tropical dysentery was the most serious and common disease which attacked both Americans and Europeans in Manila and the vicinity. Hence it was this affection which first attracted the attention of the medical scientists who came here at this period to study the prevailing diseases of the country. Some idea of the importance of this malady may be derived from a consideration of the fact that during the year 1900 in the United States Army here there occurred four times as many deaths from dysentery as from any other single disease. Little knowledge of the cause and nature, and even of the intelligent treatment, of this affection could be obtained from the physicians resident at that time in the Philippines, since no accurate study had previously been made of it in these islands. It was, therefore, important