The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1878-12-21
THE FEVER AT NEW ORLEANS.
Whence it Came and What it Cost.
Reports of Drs. Chopin and Aus
tin, read before the American
Public Health Association.
Richmond Dispatch. !

brought from havana by the steaan'
ship Emily B. Souder, on May rs.
The history of the spread of the
disease was given in detail, and the
sanitary condition of the city ably
described.
In summing up, the Doctor said;
1.-The experience of the present
year with regard to the efficacy OF
strict quarantine goes to sustain the
theory Of importation and portability
OF yell,w fever. Witness Calves
ton, which has not developed a single
case. Witness Shreveport, Monroe,
La, and Natchez, Miss, with their
shots gun guarantees turning away
pestilence and witness, again, Mo-
bile, which has certainly escaped Hn
epidemic.
"From the statement and facts
given in the accompanying papers
(which be submitted to the assocla-
lion it is an irresistible conclusion
that yellow yever is not an indigo
nous disease of Louisiana or any
other part of the United States, but
that the many years wher it made Its
appearance in this country it could be
traced, either directly or indirectly,
to foreign source.
1--WE, in Louisi u a operating under
o quarantine law not absolute III its
restrictions, after an earnest effort in
executing it, conducted with all the
honesty and energy at our command,
assisted by incorruptible quarantine
officials, have utterly failed in pre-
venting the importation of the pesti
lence, which has thr6wp gloom aad
sorrow over our whole Southwestern
valley. No conditional quarantine
can ever be made effective because
first, of tho laxity with which laws
are unfortunately executed in this
cor ny; and secondly, because of
y" Ipidity of commercial interests
y. lake, which will always move
Heaven and earth to evade success
fully all quarantine laws and regula-
tons.
1.-THE great object to be aimed at is
to prevent the germs or fomites Of
this dreaded pestilence from having
access to our people, and the only
certain and sure preventive of yellow
fever, in my humble opinion, is obso-
lutte non-intercOurse with ports where
yellow fever is Indigenous from the
LIST of April to the LIST of November
of each year.
"Once eradicate this disease from
the land, as it must necessarily be by
our cold winters, aud, gentlemen,
mark my word, W. well never again
be visited by thr terrible scourge un-
less introduced from abroad"
Dr. Ch0ppln estimates the cost of
the yellow fever in New Orleans 10
1873 as follows:
Estimated number of cases. $4,000
Cost of ten days. sickness of
each one at So. s75o,o0o
Cost of $500 funerals at $25
each. 49,. 1850
About two fifths of $500 VIC
Tins represent each CAPT
tai value ofSlOO0, amount
ing to. Observation-Disclosures. 100000
Remaining three-fifths at
$500. .s-.........-...... $4,000
Loss of time of half the in
dustrial population-say,
10000 people-for ninety.
days, at 81 per day:....: 100000
Values destroyed by the cpl
demic- 7,O72 500
Commercial losses by inter-
ruption ofintercourse with
the surrounding country
and diversion of trade to
other cities -......... 100000
Total losses. .Sl2,O72, 500
Estimated profits of the
summer trade with ports
where yellow fever usu-
ally prevails .---.-.... 81, 100000
The difference between these two
sums-say $lO,572,5O represents
the actual cost of the epidemic to the
material resources of New Orleans.
These figures, made upon basis
deemed moderate in all particulars,
show that trade during half the year
with certain tropical ports, and worth
to our city million and a half dol.
l'r', Is held at risk of more than
'''e've millions-the actual losses
, ''"m yellow fever. An estimate of
10 total losses to our country from
this epidemic has been made by Mr..
"A. b. Farquhar, in a letter to Sur
geon-General Woodwo, til, in which
be places them at the enormous sum
Of ol75,OOO,OOO.
EPIDEMIC IN NEW ORLEANS IN 1889.
DR.. W. G. Austin, member of the
Board Of Health of New Orleans, fol-
lowed Dr.. Chopin, and read valu-
able paper. 1t was devoted in con-
siderable part to the epidemic of 1899,
comparing it with that of1s78, which
it was much like, and which, he
Thought, clearly proved was imported,
and not Of local origin. In thirty
hve years. experience in Louisiana
and Mississippi, he was satisfied there
hss never been single case origina-
ted there. The fever is indigenous
to the climate of the West India
1slands, the coast of Mexico and |
South America, within the tropics It
is brought to US in ships in fomities
Then 1t spreads until it reaches the
CIR Of . cold climate, when the germs
hll and become harmless, for one of
two reasons: that the germ has lost
its force, or there is not an adapta.
ton Of the atmosphere calculated to