Typhoid fever was endemic and unmatched in causing the heaviest workload for the local doctors. Around 1870 the incidence suddenly dropped by 2/3. Before that it had been highest in April and subsequent months. After 1870 typhoid fever became most prevalent in the winter, as in other places. The reason for this shift in incidence was probably the cessation of the spring herring fisheries, from which many fishermen used to return with typhoid. The case fatality rate was approximately 5%, only half of that found elsewhere, and what is regarded as a normal case fatality rate for untreated typhoid fever. This was probably due to the endemic state of the disease. Sick infants probably died undiagnosed while older children may have developed milder forms of the disease. Most deaths were found among adolescents and young adults.