The sun., 1901-12-30
HAVANA FREE or YELLOW FEVER.
Reports Bearing on tho Theory That Fever
Germs Are Transmitted by Mosquitoes.

Gefme Arc Iranemitou " mosVustVoS.
WASHINGTON. Dec. as.--The Public Health
Bulletin for the current week contains re-
ports to Surgeon-General Wyman from
officers Of the Marine Hospital service.
all bearing on the theory Of Finlay that the
germs Of malarial and yellow fevers are
transmitted by tho bite OF the mosquito.
Dr. Gorgas, Chief Sanitary Offioer at Ha-
vana, reports no cases Of yellow fever or
deaths from that disease in the Cuban
capital during the month OF November,
a condition not obtaining since 17e2. No
venber has always been the worst for yell
low fever in Havana, the average number
OF deaths having been ts. and the maxi
mum, IA, being recorded in 1895 Last year
there were ia cases and 90 deaths. This
year there were only Ave deaths from April
1 to Dec. 8, and tho last case occurred on
Sept %. This result DR.. Gorgas attributes
to the system introduced last February
Of killing infected mosquitoes In the neigh
borhood Of each point OF infection as II
occurs. The campaign against tho mos-
quito, he says. has been most systematic,
with the result that tho mosquitoes in
Havana this year are only about one-tenth
az numerous as last year. In many places
where they were numerous last year they
had almost entirely disappeared.
Dr. H. d. Gouvea, who has had thirty
years' practice In Brazil. In paper to the
pavis Medical Bulletin on the relation OF
MOSQUITOES TO yellow fever. concludes
that the conditions under which the disease
has been propagated In Rio do Janiero
and Sac Paulo have at all time been sucn
as to fulfil the requirements OF the tinlay
theory. Rio and part Of Sac Paulo. he
points out. are built on low, humid sol,
which, with the accompanying stagnant
pools, formed q veritable paradise for NOS
quitoes. Yellow fever RACES In these two
away In the highlands, where there were
no mosquitoes, oven a case brought from
the lowIands did not spread the disease
While an epidemic OF yellow fever was
raging In the lower portion Of Sac Paulo,
the higher section, whore there we're no
stagnant pools and no mosquitoes, was
exempt, and not a single case OF trans
mission had ever been observed among the
Attendance at the yellow fever hospitals.
Surgeon Kerr at Hong Kong reports on
a long series OF experiments with mos
quitoes made by DR.. J.. C.. Thomson. an
discovery Of two new species. DR.. Thom-
son had examined 81 800 mosquitoes which
had been collected weekly throughout
the colony by members Of the police force.
Three and seven-tenths OF the whole num-
Der he found to be anopheles' consisting
OF three species. Two OF the species were
recognized as new and had been named
Anopheles naculatus and Anopheles p,'ni-
mus by F. V. Theobold, entomologist at
the British Museum The third species
was a ub-variety Of Anophsies sinensis.
A chart accompanying the. report shows
anopheles. The snopheles curve reached
its lowest point in February and Its highest
point in July. The malarial curve, based
on the presence OF the disease among troops
stationed In Hong Kong, also reached Its
lowest point in February and its highest
In July. The most interesting OF the culex
group was the euler fdhodus, the usual
intermediate host OF the blood parasite,
F,Iosia nochirua which was not uncommon
In Hong Kong.