The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-26
FEVER EXPERTS PUZZLED.
rs III YELLOW rack THAT PREYAILS
~ TIE MOUTH ESTY
while II Has Itern Pronounced Onciaiiy to ne
yellow Frver. Many Doctors say II Isn't
Marked characteristics LnckinE-A Curi-
GUS Controversy That u Now In Progress.

NsA ''H 'S So
MARKED characteristics LnrkinE-A Curi-
Gus Controversy That u Now In Progress.
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 2i.-Tho United States
Marine Hospital Service and tho Louisiana,
Alabama, and Mississippi Boards OF Health
are Investigating the disease prevailing on the
Gulf coast. There Is certainly ample field for
inquiry. Never before has the medical pro.
fession been more at sea; never have there been
moro bitter controversies; never have there
been moro douI: and discomfort. and-it must
be admitted prejudice against the profession
in tho Southwest. No fewer than three times
was the attention " tho health officers called
to the disease prevailing on the Gulf coast be-
foro IT. was pronounced yellow fever, and each
time II was declared a different disease. The
result of the wrong diagnosis has been to pro-
duce confusion among physicians and n still
greater confusion in the popular mind, which
is doing harm in quarantine and sanitary
matters.
\ disease now prevailing In Alabama, Mis-.
%sissippi, and Louisiana is confined to one town
each In Alabama and Louisiana and seventh
Mississippi. 1t has been pronounced yellow
fever by the health officers Of the United States
and the States, but this diagnosis is strongly
denied by "a largo number of persons, including
many eminent physicians, and the following
contrary theories are advanced:
First-It is not yellow fever at all, but an
entTclS uilleTchJ loNeI, DuJ tnoSo WIZ oppose
the yellow fever theory do not agree as to the
exact character of :hc disease.
Second 1t is n yellow fever. but not the dis
ease from which the South and the West In
dies have usually suffered in the past. Those
who hold this theory insist that yellow fever
is a germ, not n species, and includes at least
two and possibly more specific maladies OF
different characteristics and severity.
Third-It is yellow fever, but tho disease,
u,. e., lo,,x L,,.,a f,on hoo. - A.
change in sanitary and possibly climatic con.
ditions, has itself been very materially modi.
fed in characteristics and virulence and be-
come a mildcr malady.
There are, finally, those who insist that 1t 10
the same yellow fever that the South has al
ways known. They admit that there are
some slight variations. but say that the varia.
tons are not greater than are often noticeable
at the beginning Of an epidemic. They call
attention to the fact that yellow fever gener-
ally slips in while some other fever is pre-
vailing, and for that reason the first cases fire.
quently escape notice. coming in 1873 after an
epidemic of bilious fever, and this year after
the prevalence of denguc. Whether these
'fevers prepare the way for 1t, whether even they
assist in its generation, is not certain. but
the holders of this theory say that yellow
fever, like the caterpillar, which assumes the
same color IA the. leaf to protect itself from ene-
AiiOo PuNo vi co ihh VI Ii hdldCttElSIlCS OI
the prevailing disease as to deceive at first
the most expert yellow fever doctors. The
dengue. malarial. or bilious fever disappears
before it, and the disease assumes more clear
ly the marked characteristics of yellow fever
until there can be no doubt as to it. This is the
view of the health officers of the United States
and the three infected States, although all of
them hesitated over the suspected cases at
first. and were disinclined to declare any case
val1nw fnrar ,ptil ,har rod ~ a -,
The symptoms were misleading. they frankly
confessed, and even at the autopsy some of
the marked characteristics Of yellow fever
were missing.
F.. Dr. Alfred Duperier, Health Officer of Iberia
icon. sh, and q yellow foyer expert, calls atten-
the fact that the great yellow fever
mas a,ic of 1858, the worst ever known in this
the Do' came me IN MI IKE :, this years, under a cloud
whi2.. to distinguish the two. He beiieyos
snaI dengue and yellow fever are germane dis
which renders the patient immune to yellow |
fever: The theory, he says, was accepted by DIR.
Austin Flint in his work on the Practice Of
Medicine Dr.. Dupcrier says further that no |
one who had the densue in 1853 had yellow
toms of dengue may bear a close resemblance
to those Of yellow fever. Under these circum.
stances DR.. ,Duperier does not think the doctors
should be blamed for installing the two dis |
eases at first; on the contrary: st would require |
great medical acumen and foresight to dis
The point ne makes. that an attack of dengue
renders the patient immune against yellow
fever, seems to be supported by the experience
In Ocean Springs. None of those VINO had
were more than 700 cases OF it in July and Hu'
gust developed yellow fever afterward: and
the thtS disease iaes .nI fIe @ts0 SYf elIoM f ths r SiSw TiR p T.ss o,
Springs at least as early as July Is. 1t has
been prevailing ever since, and Yet there have
Deen only twenty-SlX cases III "A population OF
100;
AArlv nA nj I = In AItO ty Tho ,,..-
Board of Health sent a COMMITTEES to Ocean
Springs to Investigate the prevailing fever"
tee consisted of DR.. LucIen Solomon and o..
Czarneroski, two thoroughIy competent ex.
BOARD. They were joined at Ocean Springs by
Drs; 0. l.; Bailey and /. Ii. Berniss. Inc latter
at the time. DR.. dliiphant. President Of the
Louisiana Board of Health. also visited Ocean
tients carefully and thoroughly and declared
9nanimously and unequivoGaliy that the mula-
symptoms OF anything worse.
The death Of Or. Berniss, one OF the experts. |
a few days a~fterward, on Sept. =, OF what an.
peared to be black vomit, but was said TO be
congestion, of tho stomach, produced another
of Alabama, Mississippi. and Louisiana, as well
as those Of the United States Marine Hospital
the Alabama Board OF Health announcing The
fact on Sept: 8, and the other boards waiting
until Sept q. In the minds Of many persons,
however, the matter was not settled Until Dr.
Guiteras of the United States Marine Hospital
Service diagnosed the disease at Ocean Springs,
and subsequently that at Mobile and Edwards,
as yellow fever. None OF the doctors, not even
Guiteras. would diagnose tho disease until
after an autopsy.
But in spite OF these diagnoses a large pro-
portion of the population. including many ply
sicians OF standing, refuse to accept the disease
as yellow fever, and the result Is u great deal
Of confusion and unpleasantness. All the
doctors in Ocean Springs and all but one in
BILOXI refused to accept the yellow fever the
q1y. In Biloxi some OF the doctors have re-
fused to report cases as yellow fever. At least
1900 OF The 5000 persons in that town have
refused to accept the diagnoses OF The Boards
OF Health. They declared that they would not
submit TO quarantine rules or regulations or
ALLOW cases to bo reported and infected houses |
to be tagged, and they spoke Of breaking
persuaded them TO obey the sanitary and
health regulations. but they still insist that It
Is not yellow fever.
In New Orleans q large majority of the popu-
lation took this position at first, and while there
have been some converts since, u considerable
number of people DENY the eXistpnra M yallnNy