EPIDEMIC HEPATITIS WITH AND WITHOUT JAUNDICE

Abstract

In almost every war during the last one hundred and fifty years increased numbers of cases of jaundice have been observed among soldiers. According to a report in The Bulletin of the U. S. Army Medical Department, 1 There were 22,569 cases and 161 deaths during the Civil War in a total of 2,218,559 troops; the disease occurred in troops during the Boer War, the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, and World War I. Similar outbreaks were experienced by British troops in the Middle East in 1941 and 1942. During the late summer and fall of 1943 an epidemic of infectious hepatitis began among American, British and French troops in the North African theater. Admissions to the hospital for jaundice in this theater, which included Sicily and Italy, began to increase in August and September, reached a peak during the winter months and then began to decline. This increasing