Page:The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology-ItsFirstCentury.djvu/163

TRIUMPH OVER TYPHOID

Typhoid vaccination did not originate with the United States, but the American Army was the first to make vaccination a required prophylaxis against typhoid. For this step and the beneficial results which flowed from it, credit is due to the mass experiments conceived by Major Russell and carried out at the Army Medical Museum, and with vaccines at first produced in its laboratories.

For such results, there was a multiplicity of interacting causes. Faster and more accurate diagnosis of cases helped to reduce the risk of infection, which was further reduced by more thorough and effective disinfection—a procedure which Major Russell termed "really important" in his first article on "The Prevention of Typhoid Fever by Vaccination and by Early Diagnosis and Isolation."