When cleaning and fumigating, louse proof suits were worn by sanitation workers to ensure that they did not fall victim to the lice. (MSS 97 Item 56, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware. , Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.)
The main Serbian Relief Fund hospital was located in Skoplje. Also known by its Turkish name, Uskab, Skoplje is in a highly contentious area of Macedonia, and was fought over during the Balkan Wars by Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Located in a river valley and on a central rail line, Skoplje was an important trade city. As merchants and farmers moved in and out of the city, typhus spread to Skoplje and the surrounding countryside which were consequently overwhelmed by the disease. While the civilian population was under attack from typhus, food shortages and inflation took a further toll. The Serbian Relief Fund, like the Red Cross, set up hospitals in centers like Skoplje in order to reach the greatest number of people. The infectious disease hospital was located outside Skoplje in army barracks that were designated by the Serbian government. Preparing the hospital for patients required sealing, whitewashing, and fumigating the buildings. All mattress and mattress straw was removed from the building, burned, and replaced. Patients were first taken into an intake center where they were stripped, bathed, and given new clothes. Any clothing that patients came in with was taken to a steam room to be fumigated. Furthermore, non-hospital personnel were strictly forbidden from entering the grounds of the hospital. The intake process became highly regulated to ensure that the disease carrying tick would not take hold within the walls of the hospital. The intake process, and the policies set up by the Serbian Relief Fund became the standard for care, and were reinforced by the Serbian government.
Doctors Beyond Borders: Serbian Relief in 1915 
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