Evening star., 1898-07-23
Something About the History Of the
Dread Disease.
DEVELOPS IN TROPICAL CLIMATES
No Race is Wholly Immune From
Attack.
REATM ENT SUGGESTIONS


of Spain in active hostilities-that Dr.
George VI. Sternberg. the present surgeon
general of the United States army. should
be an expert in the treatment of yellow
fever. He has been recognized among the
medical profession as an authority on this
subject for many years. and ~ one under
stood better than he did perhaps. the dam
ger from this source to which our armies
would be subjected in invading Cuba at
this season. The very fact that the head
of the medical department of the army
had set forth definite views on the treat
ment and to some extent sanitary preycn-
ton of this dread malady was a stimulus
to every surgeon. hospital steward and
army nurse to be ready to meet it. Ac-
cordingly, careful preparations We're made
in advance, through medical supplies, hos
pital appliances and immune nurses, which
in their way will prove as effective, per-
haps, toward quieting the enemy as Gid
of our soldiers.
Like some other of our social foes, the dis
ease known as yellow jack, tyDhuS icte-
roideS, haemagastric pestilence or yellow
fever, which the French call coup de barre
and fievre jaune. and the Spanish yomito
negro and vomito prieto, Is not so much
dreaded as 1t once was. and this is due
chiefly to increased knowledge AS to the
conditions of its origin and improved meth
ods OF treatment. rather than to any dis
coVery or the specific cause producing it.
The Germ Theory.
Advocates of the germ theory of disease
have long held that yellow fever is caused
by mtcro-organism, developed under con-
dltions not definitely known, but those
which always include prolonged high
temperature and much moisture or damp
weather 1t Is not contagious disease in
the sense OF being transmitted directly from
one person to another but seems to be con-
tracted from infected localities, where
germs escaping from those possessed with
1t have developed outside of the human
body. Many facts tend to establish this
Ships once infected carry the disease and
communicate 1t perhaps for years. unless
every part of the vessel is subjected to
temperature SO low as to freeze it out.
Two cases of yellow fever occurred among
British soldier in barracks on the Island
OF Trinidad. The men were all promptly
removed to field tents, while the barracks
were cleaned and whitewashed but no
sooner were they reoccupied than new cases
developed. If the temperature of a town
is sufficiently low. either by reason of it's
elevation or latitude a visitor or returning
resident afflicted with the disease will not
cause it to be communicated to others
Thus resident of the City of Mexico may
come down with this fever after visit
to Vera Cruz, where during the summer
months it Is endemic, or visitor from the
coast city may develop the disease in Mexi-
co; yet, though not remarkable for its
cleanliness, original cases of yellow fever
are quite unknown in the Mexican capital
The same thing has been observed in Pc
tropolis, an elevated health resort near Rio
Janeiro. When the disease prevailed in
New York in 1S22 it was confined to the
| lower parts of the city. Those who went
into the infected locality We're liable to at
| tack. but if they took the disease and went
into the healthy district they did not COM
municate II to others
A Special Bacillus.
1t seems to be necessary also that the in
fectious agent should find suitable soil for
| the germ to develop in order to produce
any widespread effect. Well-paved, cleanly
| kept cities, with good sewerage, are not
| likely to afford lodgment for the disease;
and in cities where it has become epidemic.
| as well as endemic centers, such as Ha-
vana and Rio Janeiro, 1t has developed and
| is maintained in low districts abounding
| with decomposed organic matter of ami
| NAL origin. The influence of insanitary
conditions has been SO potent in propa-
eating yellow fever that many physicians
have doubted the Importance, if not. in
deed. the existence, of a special bacillus a 9
| its cause. Says DR.: Charles Creighton, an
| eminent British authority: THE bacillary
| of parasitic hypothesis is the fashionable
| one at present, but 1t is much too ambi-
| tious, as ordinarily held and altogether
| wide of the mark The part played by pu-
| trefactive organisms is a subordinate one
In the general grouping of factors they
can only come in after we have found the
| specific integral of the yellow fever soil In
| It's endemic seats; they cannot elaborate
| the miasmatic poison Of yellow fever with
| out definite pabulum. any more than the
| Tactic bacillus can produce Tactic fermen-
| tation without sugar-milk'"
| Nevertheless, DR.. ]. Sanarelli, super
,ndendent r & OF the institute Of Expert
r6 a. a of Ioe
| discovery of a bacillus in the blood and in
ternal tissues of yellow fever patients
| which produced the disease in animals in
ocuated with cultures of it. and also In
man. The shape of this bacillus is said to
| be that of a rod with rounded ends grow
| ing in pairs or small groups in the cultures,
| ceveloping on the usual media. with a spe-
| cific appearance resembling a wax sea! on
| letter. when first developed ten to twelve
hours in the oven. and then the same
| length OF time IN the ordinary tempera-
| ture. In the oven the culture develops iri-
| descent and transparent while at the or
binary temperature it forms shining.
| Opaque drops like drops of milk" This cul-
| tivated germ of yellow fever is said to
animal inoculated with it. lasting from five
| to twelve days. analogous to the disease
| observed In man." According to the re-
| ports sanarelli has succeeded In isolating
| the toxin developed by the bacillus and by
| directly administering 1t producing the
| same disease as with the cultures Per-
| sons lnoculated with comparatively feeble
| doses of filtered cultures are said tn have
developed clearly marked types of the vel
| low fever. AS the result Of sero-therapau
| tic experiments, Sanarelli claims now to
| nave produced serum which is a Specific
| remedy for the disease.
| Surg. Gen. Sternbers's Discovery.
| DR.. Charles Smart states that Surgeon
| General Sternberg probably discovered this
| same bacillus some ten years ago, when he
was engaged in investigating the. causes
| of yellow fever in Havana. It corresponded
| in many respects with the microbe de-
| scribed by Sanarelli. but as he failed to find
it in about one-half of the cases of yellow
| fever which he examined and as 1t was
| not destroyed when exposed to a freezing
| mixture of salt and Ice for two hours he
| did not decide the "bacillus' to be the
specific cause Of the disease. This par
| ticular microbe appears to have been a
very expert and wary fugitive. Various
| physicians in the past, including Drs Car.
| mona, Freire, Gibier and F1ndlay have
laid claim to his capture. yet subsequent
| examinations of these special finds have
| failed to reveal the real criminal As the
| reward has already been paid 1t is to be
| hoped that this villain in the tragedy OF
| yellow jack has now been discovered by
the South American physician, as well as
the true remedy and punishment BETTING
| list nf