Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-05-02
NOSO
WAR ON MOSQUITOES.
Army Officers to Fight Yellow
Fever on New Lines.
RADICAL CHANGE IN METHODS.

Those Ill With the Disease to BE Iso-
lated In Wards Made Mosquito
Proof - Patients Clothes and Bed
ding Need Not BE Fumigated Ex-
cept For Mosquitoes.
Surgeon General Sternberg recently
approved, according to a Washington
dispatch, the draft of an order to be
promulgated by the chief surgeon in
Havana for protection against yellow
fever and the prevention of it's dis
semination by mosquitoes. The order
says:
"The recent experiments made in
Havana 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, i'm
portant changes in the measures used
for the prevention and treatment of
this disease have become necessary.
$50 far as yellow fever is concerned,
infection of room or building simply
means that it contains infected mos
quitoes-that is, mosquitoes which have
fed on yellow fever patients. Disn-
fection, therefore, means the employ
mcnt of measures aimed at the de-
struction of these mosquitoes. The
most effective Of these measures is
fumigation, either with sulphur, for
maldehydes or insect powder. The
fumes Of sulphur are the quickest and
the most effective insecticide, but are
otherwise Objectionable. Formadehyde
gas is quite effective if the infected
rooms are kept closed and sealed for
two or three hours. The smoke Of in +
sect powder has also been proved use
full. It really stupefies mosquitoes,
which drop to the floor and can then be
easily destroyed. The washing of
walls, floors, ceilings and furniture !
with disinfectants is unnecessary. 1
GAS it has been demonstrated that
yellow fever cannot be conveyed by
bedding, clothing, effects and baggage, I
they need not be subject to any spe-
cial disinfection. Care should be TAX
en-, however, not to remove them from
the infected rooms until after formalde-
hyde fumigation, SO that they may not
harbor any infected mosquitoes.
''The infection of mosquitoes is most
likely to occur during the first two or
IilACS dtly VI Tic UlSpdSGS
cases-that is, patients not Ill enough to
take to their beds and remaining unsus-
pected and unprotected-are probably
those most responsible for the spread
of the disease. It is therefore essen
tial that ali fever cases shall be at
once isolated and so protected that no
mosquitoes can possibly get access to
them until the nature Of the fever is
positively determined. /
Zach post shall have a reception
ward for the admission Of all fever
cases and an isolation ward for the
treatment of cases which prove to be
yellow fever. Each ward shall be made
mosquito proof by wire netting over
doors and windows, a ceiling Of wire
netting at height of seven feet above I
the floor, and mosquito bars over the !
beds. There should be no place in it /
where mosquitoes can seek refuge not
readily accessible to the nurse. Both
wards can be in the same building pro- I
vided they are separated by mos
quito tight partition.
"Malarial fever, like yellow fever. is
communicated by mosquito bites and
therefore is just as much of an infec- /,
tious disease and requires the same
measures of protection as against mos
quitoes." 1