Abstract
In so far as we have been able to learn epidemics of so-called infectious jaundice have never occurred in the Philippines. Indeed the writer has been unable to find any record in the various hospitals in Manila or in the Naval Hospital at Canacao of a single case of infectious jaundice associated with the presence of the Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae. This is a curious observation in view of the widespread prevalence of this disease in Japan and Formosa and the extensive shipping communications which exist between these countries and the Philippines.
The wild rat is known to harbor this parasite in other parts of the world. In Japan nearly 50% of wild rats are infected and the disease is quite prevalent particularly from September to November each year. In the United States Jobling and Eggstein 1 found 10% of the wild rats caught in Nashville infested with this organism. Walch and Walch-Sorgdrager 2 have found 33% of rats in Baltimore harboring the organism, while Langworthy and Moore 3 report 40% to 60% for Albany. Brill 4 has reported 20% of field mice positive in flooded districts in Germany. Noguchi has reported the presence of this parasite in rats caught in New York City and from time to time there have been clinical reports of the disease emanating from that city. Only recently Cushing 5 has reported 2 cases of infectious jaundice in New York City from which cultures from the urine yielded the organism in both cases and from the cerebrospinal fluid in one case.
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