The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-09-08
FATAL MOSQUITO BITES.
EXTREME DANGER IN WOUNDS 6AcK
OF THE EAR.

OE
This Is Spot People Should Carefully
Guard From Onslaughts of the Insect
danger of Poisoning Especially Great
in Humid NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Kills.
Deaths from mosquito bites have
been reported as far back as 1889. In
March of that year John J. Collins, an
insane patient, escaped from the asy-
lum at Snake Hill, N. j., and wandered
for several days in the Hackensack
Meadows. When found he had been
terribly bitten by mosquitoes, and he
died in spite of medical care. Charles
Mingard, of Hoboken, n. j., died from
q similar cause in September, 1889. A
more recent case was that OF Carl
Head, of St. Louis, who died in Sep
tember last from the effects of single
bite.
Cases less serious than these are
reported every day, and there are un-
numbered instances in which tempor-
ary Disagreement, accompanied by
great pain, has been caused by the
bite of this insect.
This record, fragmentary as it is,
convicts the mosquito of being a
menace to life and health. Physicians
so regard it. DR.. Frank E. Miller,
of West Thirty-seventh street, said:
"The mosquito undoubtedly is
capable of inhicting fatal wound.
The insect is bred and fostered in
decayed matter, and it is the transfer
of the germs of this fetid substance to
the blood of the victim that causes the
complications. The poison is injected
into the blood and then circulated
throughout the system. >
"The most fatal spot to be attacked
Is just behind the ear A person bit
ten on one of the veins there by a
mosquito inoculated with the poison
of putrid matter would bein imminent
danger of death, for the poison would
reach the heart and brain within a few
minutes. The puncture of large vein
also would be highly dangerous.
"The constitution of the victim has
much to do with the effect of the bite.
A person whose blood was thin or dis
eased would be much more liable to
serious injury than one who was
strong and healthy. A patient came
to me recently within an hour after he
had been bitten, yet already his arm
was swollen to almost thrice its natural
size. He had been bitten over large
bloodvessel.
"The extraordinary danger from
mosquito bites just now is due to the
humidity of the season, which has pro-
duced large quantities of decayed
matter, upon which the insects thrive,
and from which they derive the fatal
poison"
An interesting, though not a COM
forting, fact concerning the mosquito
Is that it can communicate the disease
known as anthrax, believed to be ideu
tical with the plague of olden times.
James T. Whitaker, in the American
Text Book of Medicine, is authority
for this statement. Anthrax is the di-
rect result of incubation from diseased
animal matter. The symptoms will be
recognized by those who have suffered
from mosquito bites:
''The period of incubation varies
from one to several days. The
symptoms may show themselves with
in an hour of incubation; they may
be delayed as, late as four days. A
slight itching, prickling sensation is
first perceived at the site of inocula-
ton. Very soon there appears q
central vesicle, the rupture of which
discharges bloody contents, to be
converted into dark, red-brown or
black crust, the anthrax"
Innumerable remedies have been
put forth for relief from tine bite of the
mosquito. The application of oil of
pennyroyal is recommended by many
physicians as the most eftcacious. The
use of alkalies, such as liQ uid ammonia
or O solution of bicarbonate of soda
or of potash, is also of benefit. Lint
soaked in chloroform and laid on
the bite gives great relief, and
ipecacuanha applied externally is said
to be beneficial. When serious re-
suits are threatened the patient should
be stimulated with ammonia or ether,
to counteract the symptoms Of syncope
or coma.
To rid q district of plague of mos
quitoes the liberal use of crude
petroleum has been recommended.
An experiment made at Staten Island
seemed to show the efficacy of the
scheme. The company controlling
Midland Beach, summer resort, took
extraordinary measures to combat
plague of mosquitoes. A large salt
marsh near the place, which had been
a prolific breeding ground for the in
sects, was the scene of operations. A
large area of the ground was saturated
with crude petroleum, sprayed from
force pumps with ball nozzle attach
ments. The experiment was sue
cess, for the plague almost disappeared,
and since then has been hardly notice
able.-New York Herald.
Our Foreign Pensioners.
It is not generally known, perhaps,
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