Evening star., 1901-06-26

WARRING ON MOSQUITOES
CIRCULAR ISSUED BY SURGEON GEN.
ERAL wYMAN.
Importance of Excluding Insects From
Hospitals Pointed Out-Pre-
ventfOn of Diseases.

Or. Walter Wyman, surgeon general of
the marine hospital service, has sent to the
surgeons and officials of that service an
important and interesting circular bearing
on the transmission of disease by mos
quitoes and other insects.
The circular is as follows:
Your attention is directed to the i'm
portance of insects as factors in the con-
veyance of disease. There is no longer
doubt as to the relation of the mosquito to
the malarial diseases and to filariasis. Ac-
cording to Simond plague is transmitted
from the rat to man by the flea. The in
lection Of typhoid fever, and to a certain
extent cholera, may be conveyed from the
excreta by flies According to the recent
work of the army commission the mosquito
plays an important role in the transmits
sion Of yellow fever.
You are therefore directed to give par
t1cular attention to this subject so far as
1t relates to the work of the service in
quarantine and the prevention of the spread
of communicable diseases. You are advised
to carefully guard patients suffering with
said diseases from the bites or annoyances
of the insects above mentioned, and to this
END to place mosquito netting over the sick
bed. EXcreta must be treated in manner
to prevent their becoming food or breeding
places for insects. Hospitals where COM
municable diseases are treated should be
all windows. doors and other openings,
particular attention being paid to the
Kitchen, dining room and protection Of the
food. Should mosquitoes, flies or other in
sects gain entrance to the wards they
should be at once destroyed
THE best method Of killing insects in a
large room Is by sulphur fumigation. For
maldehyd cannot be depended upon, for it
frequently fails to kill insects. Pyrethrum
powder when burned in an inclosure only
Supplies mosquitoes and flies, and when
used these insects must be subsequently,
collected and destroyed.
You are also directed to guard against
the breeding of mosquitoes about marine
hospital reservations, quarantine stations
and camps by the methods now in vogue.
Collections of water in buckets, barrels,
cisterns and the like are favorite places for
the breeding of mosquitoes. Such collec
ttons should be carefully covered or if a
cover Is not practicable, petroleum should
be poured on the surface and replenished
from time to time. All collections of stag
nant water, pools, bitches and the like
about the reservation should be drained
or, If impracticable, petroleum used as
above. Approximately, one ounce is suffi-
cient in still water for fifteen square feet
of surface, and ordinarily the application
need not be renewed for one month. Con-
corning the cultivation of certain plants
and trees and other means of exterminat
ing mosquitoes you are referred to the
works of Giles and Howard. which have
recently been furnished your station
AS far as ships are concerned, partic-
uiar attention should be paid to the water
tanks, casks, buckets and other water col
lections, especially in regions where mala-
coming from these regions measures as
above indicated should be taken. with
view to the destruction of possible mos
quitoes or their larvae"