During the battles fought in connexion with the occupation of Tripoli by the Italians, infectious diseases were confined within narrow limits. According to Sforza, the army physician in Tripoli,[321] cholera broke out there in the second half of October 1911, reached its climax in November, and disappeared entirely in the second half of December. The disease was spread chiefly by dates, which had been infected by flies; it first appeared among the native beggars, then spread to the rest of the population, and finally to the Italian soldiers. The pestilence raged only in Tripoli, a fact which Sforza regards as a proof that it was not conveyed thither by the Italians; for had this been the case, cholera would have revealed its presence in Homs, Bengasi, Derna, and Tobruk, in which places thousands of soldiers disembarked, but not a single case of the disease was observed. Typhus fever is endemic in Tripoli; after the Italian occupation twenty cases of that disease were observed among the natives and ten cases among the soldiers. In order to prevent diseases from spreading to Italy, convalescents were not allowed to return home until there was absolutely no danger of their communicating the infection to other persons. The same measures of precaution were used in relation to relapsing fever. 6. THE WAR BETWEEN TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES (1912–13)[322] Regarding the Balkan war definite information is still wanting. Well known, however, is the outbreak of cholera along the Tchatalja lines; but the progress of the disease was soon checked and it did not become very widespread. It first appeared in the camp of the Turks, whither it was borne by troops from Asia, where severe epidemics of it had occurred in Mecca and Tiberias, and where it had made its appearance in several other places. In Constantinople the first case of the disease was reported on November 5, 1912; in the first week of December it had reached its climax, and after January 20 only sporadic cases were observed. The following table indicates the number of persons who contracted and succumbed to cholera in Constantinople: _Patients._ _Deaths._ Nov. 5–Dec. 2 (1912) 934 441 Dec. 3–Dec. 9 (1912) 540 229 Dec. 10–Dec. 16 (1912) 451 244 Dec. 17–Dec. 23 (1912) 276 158 Dec. 24–Dec. 30 (1912) 141 74 Dec. 31–Feb. 1 (1913) 173 99 ————— ————— Nov. 5, 1912–Feb. 1, 1913 2,515 1,245