SWITZERLAND SICKNESS ON THE SLOPES THE LITTLE ALPINE SKI RESORT OF ZERMATT 
RAKES IN A LUCRATIVE $10 MILLION FROM VISITORS EACH YEAR, BUT 
THE AUTHORITIES THERE KNOW THAT CUSTOMERS ARE NOTORIOUSLY FICKLE ,RNIGHT A 
TOUCH OF BAD WEATHER, BAD SERVICE IN THE HOTELS OR AN 
UGLY SCANDAL CAN SEND HUNDREDS OF TOURISTS OFF IN A HUFF 
TO ST . MORITZ OR DAVOS . HENCE THE RELUCTANCE OF 
ZERMATT'S TOWNSMEN TO TALK ABOUT THE CURIOUS WAVE OF ILLNESS THAT 
BEGAN POPPING UP THREE MONTHS AGO . THEY STOLIDLY IGNORED WORD 
FROM A ZURICH PHYSICIAN THAT A PATIENT JUST BACK FROM SKIING 
IN ZERMATT WAS DOWN WITH TYPHOID FEVER . THEY ALSO SHRUGGED 
OFF A REPORT THAT AN ITALIAN IMMIGRANT WORKING NEAR ZERMATT HAD 
FALLEN ILL WITH THE SAME DISEASE . EVEN THEN, ZERMATT OFFICIALS 
PUBLICLY POOH-POOHED RUMORS OF AN EPIDEMIC . THE ZERMATT TOURIST OFFICE 
PRONOUNCED ZERMATT'S WATER " 99.93 PER CENT PURE, " WHILE LOCAL 
CITIZENS DENOUNCED THE " FOREIGN SENSATIONALIST PRESS " FOR REPORTING THE 
GOSSIP . AS THOUSANDS MORE UNWARY TOURISTS POURED IN, PACKING ZERMATT'S 
56 HOTELS TO THE RAFTERS, CASH REGISTERS JINGLED AND TYPHOID SPREAD 
UNCHECKED . LAST WEEK ZERMATT WAS REGRETTING ITS LAXITY . ALREADY 
DEAD WERE THREE ZERMATT CITIZENS AND A BRITISH TOURIST . AT 
LEAST 350 CONFIRMED OR SUSPECTED CASES OF TYPHOID HAD BEEN TRACED 
TO RECENT ZERMATT VISITORS IN SWITZERLAND AND EIGHT FOREIGN COUNTRIES . 
LITTLE ZERMATT WAS SUDDENLY IN THE HEADLINES ALL OVER THE WORLD 
. VIRTUALLY ALL THE 10,000 TOURISTS HAD STAGED A HURRIED EXODUS, 
LEAVING ZERMATT A GHOST TOWN OCCUPIED BY 120 GREEN-UNIFORMED SWISS ARMY 
MEDICAL CORPSMEN . BY SEALED TRAIN AND HELICOPTER, THE ARMY MEN 
EVACUATED LOCAL VICTIMS, AND HEALTH INSPECTORS POKING THROUGH ZERMATT'S WATER SYSTEM 
DISCOVERED THE PROBABLE CAUSE OF IT ALL A HOLE IN A 
WATER PIPE INTO WHICH SEWAGE WAS SEEPING . AT WEEK'S END, 
DENOUNCED AT HOME BY THE VALAIS MEDICAL ASSOCIATION FOR A CONSPIRACY 
OF SILENCE, AND DISGRACED ABROAD, THE ZERMATT AUTHORITIES AT LAST CLOSED 
DOWN ALL THE HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS . TO THE VILLAGERS LEFT 
STRANDED IN DISMAL UNEMPLOYMENT, IT SEEMED A PITY, FOR NEARLY A 
FOOT OF NEW POWDER SNOW FELL ON THE SLOPES THAT NIGHT 
. " ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL SKIING CONDITIONS, " MOURNED GOTTLIEB PERREN, HEAD 
OF ZERMATT'S FAMED SKI SCHOOL . 