The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-07-06
INTERVIEWBY SURGEON WYMAN
HE is sANGUINE OF AVOIDING An
EPIDEMIC THIS SUMMER.
At This Time There Is Not Case
of Yellow Fever in the
United States.

Washington, July 5.-"There Is not a
case of yellow fever in the United States
This statement was made to a Post re-
porter this afternoon by Surgeon General
Wyman of the marine hospital service.
1--WE are now we'll into the first hall OF
July and no case has been reported, al
though" he added, ut frequently happens
that reports are not made as soon as the
disease appears
,sBut YOUR officers are on the watch
eyes. and we are all the more apt 20
speedily know of its existence because
the people of the South are not SO aVerse
to announcing a suspicious case as theS
used to be- They recognize that 1t should
be acknowledged quickly and measures
taken to prevent a spread OF the teVer'
as was done at McHenry. That was an
object lesson to the South, which learned
that by isolating all cases promptly the
danger of an epidemic is removed. lhere
has been n marked change in this res3Tu'
as was illustrated this year by the prompt
renorting of two suspicious cases IN
Louisiana town. They were at once III
vestigated the proper precautions were
taken and nothing more has peen hearo
of the trouble. A.
unusual amount of communication Win
Havana last winter and Spring!
NO" was the reply. None Whatever
II was very wise to remove the volunteer
troops from Cuba last March and April
The president and the secretary oil war
both insisted that the removal should De-
gin early in order to avoid all dansel,
and when the troops landed IN the onlteu
States every bit OF the baggage and camp
equipment was dis!nfected and the men
were subjected TO a detention OF five days
There were only three attempts to evade
the quarantine regulations and each OF
these failed, even though the appeals
reached the president himself
Then there is apparently no danger to
be feared from the coming home OF the
troops?"
mot hit ! am confident that not a
single germ OF yellow fever entered the
United States through the belongings OF
these q, 900 men. II any had escaped us
we would have heard from them before
this And then" continued the doctor,
I'VE not only have complete control OF the
ports OF this country, but we have a thor
cugh grip on the situation in Cuba. Our
officers are stationed at every port in the
island. Every piece of baggage is in
spected and labelled before 81 leaves the
island and. II necessary is promptly disn-
fected. At Santiago we have dis
mantled ship. called the Rough Rider,
which is equipped With two large steam
chambers and every other appliance neces-
sary for killing fever germs. We are not
only protecting this country from San
tlago, but all the cities of Cuba as well,
so that the disease can not spread"
"Is there any yellow fever In Havana
now?''
mot case. do not even look for any
sporadic cases In this country" DR.. Wy
man said in closing the interview. They
may occur. but we think We have taken
every precaution to prevent the appear
ance OF the disease, At any rate we can
most assuredly predict that there will
be no general epidemic, Notwithstanding
the very large amount OF travel between
the United States and Cuba during the
mast year"