During early civilization, typhus fever was the predominant disease, whereas typhoid was of secondary prevalence. With the advancement of civilization, however, and the adoption of personal hygiene, typhus has receded. On the other hand, with the increasing density of population and the resulting contamination of food and water supplies, typhoid has become pandemic. Except under war conditions, epidemics of typhus are now rare, although the disease is endemic on the Great Plateau of Mexico, in parts of Ireland, France and Russia, in Algeria, Egypt, Hungary and certain provinces of the Balkan States. The recent Serbian epidemic, still fresh in our memories, is an instance of war-borne typhus.
TYPHUS IN EASTERN UNITED STATES
The three chief visitations of this disease to the United States occurred in New York in 1881 and 1882, and again in 1892 and 1893, and in Philadelphia in 1883. Sporadic cases have not been uncommon in our