Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-26
HAVANA'S HEALTHFULNESS
INTERESTING REPORT FROM SUR
GEON GORGAS.
General Death Rate Compares Favor.
ably With the Great Ports
of the World.

An exceedingly interesting report upon
| the success attained by the army sanitary
officers Of Havana in warding off yellow
| fever and smallpox has just been received
at the War Department from Surgeon w.
| C. Gorgas, the chief sanitary officer of Ha-
| vana. The report shows in substance that
| the general death rate for March 1913 Is
lower than at any time since 1889, compar-
ing favorably with the great ports of the
world. DR.. Gorgas thinks the war upon
mosquitoes has brought about this state of
affairs. The text of the report is fol-
lows:
Il desire to invite the attention OF the
major general commanding to the continued
excellent sanitary condition of the city as
shown by the general death rate. The gen.
eral death rate, %, it will be seen, is con-
siderabiy lower than that of any March
since 1880 the lowest previous rate for the
preceding eleven years being that of 1888
when we had 276O the highest, that of
1898, the last year of Spanish occupation,
when we had IS. 1t will be seen from this
that we have had a steady decrease since
the American occupation, and that we COM
pare favorably with many other OF the
larger cities of the world.
According to marine hospital reports,
LIVERPOOL for the week ending February
%, 1901. with a population of GGS64o, had
1913 deaths, being a death rate OF 2626.
Dublin, for the week ending February 10.
1901 with population of 34954, had G}o
deaths, which gives death rate Of 34.S4
per thousand. MarSeilles for the month OF
January, 1901 estimated population AL 44,
deaths 1,1S1. giving death rate 31.9
THE number of deaths for March is con-
sderably larger than that for February,
due to the increased number in the diar-
rhoeal diseases of children, and an increase
in pulmonary troubles generally. AS these
a. he nh HAT
it will be seen that the increase is entirely
among the Cubans. The Cubans in Febru-
ary 1901, had 800 deaths, and in March,
1901, 444.
The Yellow Fever Situation.
But what I wish more particularly to
invite attention to is the condition of the
city with regard to yellow fever. Our re-
port shows four cases and one death. The
only two years since 1889 showing as small
a number of deaths as this were 1892 and
1899, when we had one death in March for
each of these years. OF these four cases
reported in March, 1901, only one took sick
during March; the other three We're taken
sick during the latter part of February,
and remained over into March. In 1900
during March we had eleven cases and four
deaths.
previous to the year 90 no record was
kept of the number of cases. so that / am
unable to make comparison. AS matter
of fact. we have had only one case Of yell
low fever in Havana since the LIST of
March, and since March % the city of Ha-
vana has been entirely free from that dis
ease. This is the first time this has oe-
CURED since June, 1899. There were two
occasions in 1890 when we went for q few
days with no fever, but none since the
time mentioned that we have been free
from fever as long at the present. feel
very much encouraged at the prospects for
the summer.
Il think our present freedom from fever
is In part due to the systematic and extern
sive way in which we have been killing the
mosquitoes for the last month. l have the
greatest hopes of destroying the foci as
they appear by systematically killing the
mosquitoes over @ large area around each
focus az 1t occurs.
Il am inclined to think that we have
been free from fever for a longer time than
has ever occurred in Havana before Our
records show longer periods in which no
fever was reported in the early part Of the
year 80. but at that time physicians had
not learned to recognize the milder types
of yellow fever, and We're much less care
ful about reporting them, that a case
of yellow fever, which is now promptly
recognized and reported would then have
been passed over.
Condition Regarding Smallpox.
Our condition with regard to smallpox
is equally satisfactory, and while this dis |
ease is occurring in every part Of the |
United States, we i'll Havana have not had |
a single case since August, 1900. These two |
diseases. yellow fever and smallpox, have
been looked upon as being endemic in Ha- |
Yana | think the present state of affairs |
particularly worthy of remark.
Il also call attention to the large amount |
of sanitary work being DONE as shown by |
the report. In the report for this month / |
have changed the form somewhat giving |
mere data under this head. I INCORPORATE |
this month, for instance the large number |
OF legal proceedings instituted for non-com-
pliance with orders One thousand two |
hundred cases is q very startling array and |
will no doubt strike the health officers of |
most of our large cities as being very ex- |
cessive. But, as l have the power of |
drawing cases l use this measure very
freely for getting the work done II auv
work ordered has not been commenced on |
re-inspection within a week after the order
is given, start legal proceedings This al
most invariably causes the owner to com
mence work, and when the work Is com
pleted. almost always withdraw the case
Probably not fifty of these ! go cases were
carried through and fined.
Inc meteorological examination Of spu-
ia was commenced March 3; that is sta
tions were established at various points
about the city. The physicians were re-
quested to send the sputa to these sta
tons and arrangements were made to col
lect the sputa and give the result Of tho
examination the same day. The success ne
the scheme has proven very satisfactory
The report will show that eighty cases
have been examined since the I'd of tho !
month. This is as gratifying as it 10 mn
DR. Davolos of the municinal
laboratory kindly makes the examinations
for us