=TYPHOID FEVER (ENTERIC FEVER).=--Through ignorance which prevailed before the discovery of the germ of typhoid fever and exact methods for determining the presence of the same, the term was loosely applied and is to this day. Thus mild forms of typhoid are called gastric fever, slow fever, malarial fever, nervous fever, etc., all true typhoid in most cases; while typhoid fever, common to certain localities and differing in some respects from the typical form, is often named after the locality in which it occurs, as the "mountain fever" common to the elevated regions of the western United States. This want of information is apt to prevail in regions remote from medical centers, and leads to neglect of the necessary strict measures for the protection of neighboring communities, for the excretion of one typhoid patient has led to thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths. Typhoid fever is a communicable disease caused by a germ which attacks the intestines chiefly, but also invades the blood, and at times all the other parts of the body, and is characterized by continued fever, an eruption, tenderness and distention of the bowels, and generally diarrhea. It is common to all parts of the earth in the temperate zones, and occurs more frequently from July to December in the north temperate zone, from February to July in the south temperate zone. It is most prevalent in the late summer and autumn months and after a hot, dry summer. Individuals between the ages of fifteen and thirty are more prone to typhoid fever, but no age is exempt. The sexes are almost equally liable to the disease, although it is said that for every four female cases there are five male cases. The robust succumb as readily as the weak.