The Litchfield County Medical Association

The Litchfield County Medical Association (LCMA) serves the physicians and the community of Litchfield County, representing approximately 250 physicians in all specialties. It is the oldest Medical Society in the United States, founded in 1767, ten years before Connecticut became a State. At that time, 31 “phisitions” traveled on horseback from many parts of Litchfield County to form a medical society as an “Effectual method to advance medical knowledge and discontinuance the growth and increase of ignorant pretenders to the healing arts.“

Since its inception, the Litchfield County Medical Association has sought to bring together, into one organization, the members of the medical profession in Litchfield County. The goals of the Association are to advance medical knowledge, to promote the enactment of the best laws by which to serve the public within the practice of medicine, and to pursue advancements of the scientific, social and political interests of the profession.

LCMA works on an ongoing basis with the Connecticut State Medical Society and the AMA to preserve the integrity of the physician-patient relationship by maintaining a constant vigil against federal and state interference in your medical practice. The Litchfield County Medical Association strives to join, into a closer fellowship, all the physicians of Litchfield County so that our united efforts may be a credit to the high calling of the profession.

The History of Connecticut Medicine

William G. Daggett, A.B., M.D. of New Haven gave a speech to the New Haven County Medical Association on April 18, 1889.  The title was “The Treatment of Typhoid Fever.”  Dr. Daggertt stated “There is reasonable ground for the belief that the time is not far distant when typhoid fever will be a much rarer disease than it is at present; when the results of clinical observation, and the facts now being gathered in bacteriological laboratories will be so formulated and adapted to each otheras to enable us to prevent its occurrence, if not to eradicate it from the list of frequently recurring infectious diseases.  The increased interest felt in the purity of our water supplies, and the general use of germicidal and antiseptic agents in the sick room, are the direct outcomes of systematic and scientific study of aetiology, and show our belief in the bacterial origins of the disease.”

According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, before the advent of public sewage systems, typhoid was common in the United States. In 1920, for example, typhoid fever occurred in 100 out of every 100,000 people. By 1920, it had decreased to 33.8 per 100,000 people, and, by 1950, to 1.7 for every 100,000.

Perhaps the most famous outbreaks of tyhpoid fever in the U.S. involved Mary Mallon, a cook in the New York City area in the early 1900s. Most well known as “Typhoid Mary,” Mallon was taken into custody in 1907 by local health officials when it was shown that a number of typhoid cases in the area could be traced to kitchens where she worked. She was held for three years on Brother Island in New York’s East River and then released on the condition that she never again work as a cook. About 5 years later, officials found that typhoid outbreaks were again traceable to kitchens where Mallon worked. She was then detained on Brother Island until her death in 1938.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 400 Americans each year acquire typhoid, most of them while traveling in developing countries. Untreated, the illness may last for 3 to 4 weeks. Roughly 5 percent of those who contract the illness become chronic carriers-excreting the typhoid bacteria in their stools for more than a year. Treatment usually consists of antibiotics–either ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, or ciprofloxacin. With antibiotic treatment, recovery usually begins within 2 to 3 days, and deaths rarely occur. Untreated, typhoid victims may experience fever for weeks or months. Anywhere from 12 to 30 percent of typhoid victims who do not receive treatment eventually die from such complications of the infection as intestinal perforation.

Contact

The Litchfield County Medical Association
P. O. Box 416
Torrington, CT 06790

Telephone: 860.482.3310

E-mail: [email protected]

Executive Director: Charlene Donaghy