The Savannah morning news., 1901-04-18
The BAD MOSQUITO
HE TRANSMITS YELLOW AND MA
LARIAL FEVER.
FEVER DOCTRINE
SURGEON GENERAL STERNBERG
ENDORSES 1T.

The Army VIII Hereafter Conduct
Its Operations Against the Fevers
Named Upon This TheOry-A Cir
cular Letter of Instructions, Pre-
pared by Surgeon Harvard at Ha-
vnna, Giving Explicit Directions
as to Methods to BE Pursued, Is
sued With Approval of the Sur
EeOn General.
Washington. April 17.-Surgeon General
Sternberg has just given his approval
without reservation to the report of the
special board Composed of Surgeons Reed,
Carroll and Agramonte upon the ''etio-
logy of yellow fever" in which the CON
clusion was reached that the mosquito is
responsible for the Transmission of this
fell disease. Moreover, the medical de-
partment of the army is moving ener-
getically to put into practical operation
methods of treatment for the prevention
of yellow fever, involving a radical re-
versal of existing methods, which form
the basis of the report.
To-day Surgeon General Sternberg for
mally approved a circular prepared by
Chief Surgeon Havard at Havana with
this endorsement:
I'm my opinion the present state of our
knowledge fully justiies the publication
of this circular"
The text of the circular which will
form the Instructions for all medical Of
fioers in the army in treating fever, is
attached. The general orders referred 10
under head one, provide for the liberal
use of coal oil to prevent the Matching
out Of mosquito eggs The circular says:
Conveyed by Mosquito Bites.
''The recent experiments made in Ha-
vana by the medical department of the
army having proved that yellow fever,
like malarial fever, is conveyed chiefly
and probably exclusively by the bite of
infected mosquitoes, important changes in
the measures used for the prevention and
treatment of this disease have become
necessary
80 far as yellow fever is concerned.
infection of a room or building simply
means that it contains infected mosqui-
toes, that is mosquitoes which have fed
on yellow fever patients. Disinfectlon,
therefore, means the employment of
measures aimed at the destruction of
these mosquitoes. The most effective of
these measures is funigation, either with
sulphur, formaldehyde or insect powder.
The fumes of sulphur are the quickest
and the most effective insecticide, but
are otherwise Objectionable. Formalde-
hyde gas is quite effective, If the infected
rooms are kept closed and sealed for two
or three hours. The smoke of insect pow
der has also been proved useful; 1t read
lily stupeties mosquitoes which drop to the
floor and can be easily destroyed.
Old Methods Abandoned.
H'The washing of walls, floors, ceilings
and furniture with disinfectants is un-
necessary.
'As it has been demonstrated that yell
low fever cannot be conveyed by bedding,
clothing, effects and baggage, they need
not be subject to any special disinfec-
tion. Care should be taken, however not
to remove them from the infected rooms
until after formaldehyde fumigation, so
that they may not harbor any infected
mosquitoes.
Medical officers taking care of yellow
fever patients need not be isolated; they
can attend other patients and associate
with non-immunes with perfect safety to
the garrison. Nurses and attendants TAX
ing care of yellow fever patients shall
remain isolated, so as to avoid any pos
sible danger of their conveying mosqui-
toes from patients to non-immunes.
'MalariaI fever. like yellow fever is
communicated by mosquito bites and
therefore is just as much of an infectious
disease and requires the same measures
of protection against mosquitoes. On the
assumption that mosquitoes remain in the
vicinity of their breeding places, or never
travel far the prevalence of malarial
fever at a post would indicate want of
proper care and diligence on the part of
the e11roeOn and QOnnpoa offirtar