'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎92r] (188/610)

These are prevalent throughout the area in summer but are Waterborne
worse in the Caspian provinces, where the water supply is most Diseases,
polluted. They are also spread by the infection of food by flies
and dust, especially on the plateau, by butter, by milk which
should always be boiled, and by fruit and vegetables which may
be soiled by dust, dirty hands or irrigation water.
Few cases of typhoid occurred among the British and Indian Typhoid,
garrisons at Kazvin, Rasht and Enzali in 1918 and 1919. This
immunity, however, was probably due to inoculation, medical
precautions and control of the water supply, as typhoid is most
prevalent among the Persians, and serious epidemics broke out
after the famine of 1918.
Cholera is not endemic but is imported at intervals of 5 to 12 Cholera,
years from the Volga, to the Caspian provinces. Its germ is
quickly killed by the sun, and does not thrive so well on the
plateau. Europeans are seldom attacked.
Small-pox is very common. Public vaccination has been Small-pox.
started in Tehran, and in 1919 in Kazvin also, but very few of
the inhabitants would come to be vaccinated.
Typhus and relapsing fever are endemic and are most wide- Typhus and
spread in Khamseh and Khalkhal, where the dirt is greatest. reiapBing
They are caused by the bite of the ordinary body louse which is
ubiquitous among the poorer classes. A particularly severe form
of relapsing fever, which sometimes proves fatal to Persians with
no medical treatment, is also caused by a large tick, Argus
Persicus, commonly known as the Mianeh bug, or ‘ Gharibgaz 5
(i.e., biter of strangers). Its bite causes a sore which should be
painted with tincture of iodine. This pest is commonest in
Mianeh and other villages on the Zinjan-Tabriz road, but is
also found in many other localities, e.g., at Firuzkuh on the
Tehran-Barfarush route [see Chapter X, para, (c), Elburz
Routes No. 11. The inhabitants usually warn travellers of its
presence. Like other vermin it hibernates and is troublesome
in spring and summer. It only comes out of its crannies after
dark and a lighted lamp at night is said to keep xt off. Old
buildings and sarais are the favourite haunts of this bug and
of lice and should be avoided if possible. It is advisable to
fill in all cracks and fissures in walls, ceilings, etc., and parti
cular attention should be paid to hollow bamboo canes, cracks
in bedsteads and all hollow places which should be frequently
cleansed with some disinfectant such as Formalin, crude oil,
etc., and fumigated with sulphur. In order to escape the
vermin a camp bed or wooden platform should be used when
sleeping in sarais or village houses, and will be found to make
all the difference between repose and torture.