The evening times., 1899-07-31
MONDAY. JULY 81, 1899.
The yellow Fever Scare.

Sensational and apparently inexplicable
as the occurrence is, there need be no fear
of the spread of yellow fever which now
Beems to be ravaging the Soldiers Home
Mt Newport News if the ordinary scientific
rules of precaution are observed by the
authorities.
This is not a congenial climate for the
yellow pest. There is nothing in either
the sanitary or atmospheric conditions of
the Virginia coast for the germ TO feed
upon even at this season. II is possible
that it was carried to the Soldiers Home
either by a visitor or a letter from the
tropics. 1t is not impossible that it came
through the quarantine barriers on fruit
shipment. There is no evidence to sup
port the theory that ii was brought up this
way from Sabine Pass. suggested, or
from any other point in that region. There
has been no outbreak of yellow fever in
Texas for several years, and if it had been
raging at Sabine Pass, as intimated by
the implication that the Newport News
affection was brought thither, the whole
country would have known il and the
quarantine authorities would have govern
ed themselves accordingly.
In fact, there is no absolute certainty
that the malady at Newport News is yel-
low fever. The medical fraternity, as
usual, is divided in opinion on the symp-
toms as described. In view OF this, the
public judgment should not be formed
until one or more recognized experts make
q diagnosis of the disease and express a
conviction and not merely an opinion
shaded with doubt.
Undoubtedly the disease which has 81
multaneously prostrated three hundred
people living in the same environment is
epidemic. And the fact that several of
them have died proves that IL is fatal IN
less the proper care is bestowed upon il.
But its seat may be in the water con-
sumed by the people affected. Too many
epiderlics have been traced by scientific
research to water not TO give piausibility
to this theory OF the case. The source or
the course Of water supply frequently be-
come poisoned by dead animals or decay
ing vegetable matter which manifests
itself in a variety of new forms in the hu-
man system. 1t has been only few years
since a strange malady at Duluth, Mimi,
which greatly resembled typhoid fever,
was finally traced to dead fish which got
caught in an intake tank of that city's
waterworks system in Lake Superior. 1t
is possible, therefore. that the disease at
Newport News may be due to some similar
cause. At any rate. no harm could be done
by quick and thorough investigation of
the water supply.
But even if the malady should be genuine
yellow fever there is scarcely any cause
to fear that it cannot be confined to the
one locality affected. Our Marine Hos
fighting disease. The afflicted in
stitution can be so thoroughly disinfect-
ed by modern means and appliances as not
only 10 confine the malady to the narrow
est possible limits, but also to stamp it
out promptly and effectually with the min
imum loss of life. But the authorities
will be very greatly hampered in their
work If the community becomes panic
stricken and people begin to recklessly flee
in all directions, thereby possibly aiding
the spread of the disease. Hence, every
locality endangered by the element of pro-
pinquity should rigidly enforce its quaran-
tine privileges against not only Newport
News, but every other community within
reasonable bounds. II the proper precau-
lions are employed by the people the Ma
rine Hospital Service can be relied upon
TO get the disease under complete control
iu short order