Evening star., 1899-07-31

No. 14,4S3.
Old Point. Should the quarantine reach
Newport News and last any length of time,
he said, it will mean that 5000 men will be
thrown out of employment, for no material
can be taken there.
In conclusion, The Stars informant said
he thought the authorities would be able
to cope with the disease and perhaps keep
it within the walls of the Hampton Home.
authorities succeeded in conffnlng the dis
ease to the cities of Norfolk and Ports
mouth.
No Occasion for Alarm Here.
DIR. VIM. c. Woodward. the District
health officer, is of the opinion that, un-
less the conditions prevailing at the Hamp-
ton Soldiers Home are much worse than
reported in the newspapers, there is no
occasion for alarm on the part of the peo-
pie of the District DR.. Woodward had
conference with Surgeon General Wyman
of the marine hospital service this morn
ing, but was told by General Wyman that
he had then little more information on the
subject than was contained in the morning
newspapers. DIR. Woodward was assured,
however, that there is no doubt of the dis
ease at Hampton being yellow fever, and
that it appears that the disease first de-
veloped there the latter part of last week.
Whence it came, or how it was introduced
into the Hampton home, General Wyman
has not yet learned.
The action of the District health office
authorities, said DR.. Woodward, will de-
pend largely upon future developments at
HAMPTON and in that vicinity. Meantime,
however, all boats and trains arriving from
the south will be examined, and every pas
senger'S condition and history for the past
several days will be investigated. Until
the condition becomes such as to warrant
it, no quarantine will be established
against Hampton, but every person arriv-
ing here from there will meantime be kept
under observation.
OF course. said Dr. Woodward, if a per-
son should arrive as whose exposure to the
disease there was no doubt, that person
ouid either be denied the right to stop
here or else be required to go to the deten-
ton camp. Until j quarantine is establish
ed, if it ever becomes necessary to take
such step. the presumption of non-eX-
posure will lie in favor Of people reaching
the District from Hampton and from other
places in that vicinity.
strong military Gordon has been estab-
lished around Hampton, so DIR. Woodward
has been informed, and he has strong hopes
that the disease will by such means and by
the use of other precautionary measures be
kept within the home or within the town at
least. The District smallpox hospital, said
DR.. Woodward. has been thoroughly clears
ed and dsinfected since the discharge of
the last smallpox patient, several weeks
ago, as has the smallpox detention camp,
and should it become necessary to establish
a yellow fever hospital and detention camp
here, these places, DR.. Woodward believes
would be admirably suited for The purpose
The District he stated. is also well supplied
with funds for preventing the spread Of
contagious diseases. as out of the appro-
priation of $4,000 granted by Congress at
its recent session, between $4,000 and SD
600 remains unexpended. and could. under
the terms Of the appropriation act. be used
for fighting yellow fever.
Description of the Disense
YelIOw fayar fS JaSoribad b1r Tho ,,,oJ;oo1
authorities as an acute, specific, infectious.
contagious, paroxysmal, malignant fever
occurring mainly in sub-tropical regions,
and characterized by three stages-the
febrile, the remission and the collapse
The poison of the disease is destroyed by
frost. The period of incubation is from
one to fourteen days. The onset is sudden
the temperature high. There is a tendency
to hemorrhage from the nose, mouth, kid
reys or stomach, and the skin and con-
Juncuyae acquire a yellow tint, or even a
deep olive or mahogany color. One attack
Of the disease protects against subsequent
seizures, and negroes display a peculiar i'm
munity to the disease.
Yellow fever does not develop in high al
utudes, said DIR. Woodward, and rarely
spreads in places of or above 900 feet
above the sea level The highest point In
the District, Fort Reno reservoir, is about
400 feet above sea level, it is said The
disease. said DR.. Woodward is undoubtedly
a germ disease, although to the majority
of the medical profession that fact has
not yet, perhaps, been definitely demon
strated. Persons of middle age are said
to be most generally attacked and in over
800 cases referred by one authority, fifty
per cent were of persons between sixty
and eighty years of age.
1T is impossible. said Dr. Woodward,
TO estimate the danger to the District from
the presence Of the disease in the Hampton
home until We learn more of it's extent
there While the means of railroad and wa
ter transportation are much further ad-
Vanced than years ago, when the disease
was prevalent in Norfolk. thereby faVoring
the transmission of the disease from point
to point, yet the sanitary conditions of the
District have vastly improved since those
days, thereby rendering it that much more
easy to fight the disease and prevent its
taking foothold here. Then, again, we
are very fortunately well provided with
funds with which to prevent the introduce
tiOn of the disease here, and its spread,
should it enter the District. For these rea-
sons believe there is little cause for alarm
on the part of the people of the District.
They can rest assured that we will do
everything in our power and take every
Precaution to keep the disease out of the
District, and to prevent it's spread should
i. reach here. So far as l have been able
to learn. We have had but one case here
that of the man who died here last fall.
and Re contracted the disease in South
America, it is very certain. OF course the
spread Of the disease in Hampton will as
have said proportiOnately increase the
danger of its Introduction into the District
but | have every reason to believe that the
United States and state authorities will
soon stamp it out there.
An army officer who visited Old Point
yesterday said that three large excursions
landed at Hampton during the day pouring
crowds of people through the grounds, to
return to their homes in different nearby
cities after exposing themselves probably
to infection from yellow fever
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MUST STAND EXAMINATION.