BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-04-07
The NQT AgQlny| Mosquitoes.

The literature relating to mosquitoes
is multiplying at great rate. DR.. L..
0. Howard, whose services in this field
are very well known reviews, in a
recent number of Science" two new
works on the subject.
No other country has prohted so
much as Cuba by the discovery that
the mosquito is the purveyor of disease
to human beings. For two centuries
yellow fever had made Havana its chief
stronghold, and it seemed bound to
cling to it in defiance of all sanitary
measures. While smallpox, typhoid,
and other diseases had been exterminat-
ed, or greatly reduced, there were, in
1000, 1914 cases of yellow fever, with
$40 deaths and the prospects for 1901
we're gloomy. The military Govern
ment then determined to make an
experimental test Of DR.. Fin1ay's theory
that particular kind of mosquito is
responsible for the transmission of
yellow fever. The usual quarantine
regulations and interference with COM
merce were dropped measures were
taken to exterminate the mosquitoes,
and victims of the fever were carefully
screened from them. Result only.
eighteen deaths during the whole year,
; and twelve of these occurred before
: the war against the 1no3q litoes was
begun And although October and
l November rank among the worst
: months for yellow fever, n cases at all
5 occurred between Septemte er 28, 1901,
: and February IS, 1902, the dates when
5 the report on the vital statistics of the
city of Havana, for 1901, was closed.
Major Gorgas, its author, does not
exaggerate when he claims, in this
report. in behalf of the army, that " it
has established the fact that yellow
fever is only transmitted by a certain
species of mosquito, a discovery that,
in it's power for saving human life, is
only excelled by Jerner's great dis
coverey, and as time goes On 1t will
stand in the same class as that great
boon to mankind" 1t is now within
tie power of health boards quickly to
: abolish the greatest menace to life in
! the tropics. As for the Cubans in
: particular, they have especial reason to
, regret that their authorities did not
5 make practical use Of DIR. Fin1ay's Sug-
) geStio1l, which was made as early as
: 1881. Adding the figures contained in
l one of the tables included in Major
/ Gorgas's report, we find that, if the
recent radical measures had been adopt
: ed then, more than 5000 lives might
, have been saved in these years in
t Havana alone.
: 1t is quite likely that DIR. Fin1ay's
discovery regarding what is now called
the Stegomyia, would still be ignored
had il not been for the recent demon
stration by English, German, and Ital-
ian men of science that another genus
of the mosquito, the Anopheles, is re-
sponsible tor the transmission of ma
laria. Some of the South American
Indians appear to have had an instinc-
tive knowledge of this fact, and Hum
bo1dt came within an inch of discover
ing it. Now that we know the simple
truth, it seems strange to us that Stan
ley should not have guessed it when he
wrote, in his Darkest Africa" that
, Emin Pasha informed him that "he al
ways took mosquito curtain with him,
, as he believed that it was an excellent
protector against miasmatic exhalations
, of the night" 1t remained for Major
Ross, DIR. Koch, and several Italian in
, vestigators to dispe1 these superstitious
, notions about "lniasmatic exhalations
of the night" and to demonstrate be-
yond possibility of doubt that the
Anopheles mosquito is the principal, il
hot the only, transmitter OF malaria.
In view of the billions of mosquitoes
that infest all parts of this planet, it is
lucky that only few species, owing to
their peculiar structure and habits, are
Iconveyors of deadly diseases; lucky,
also, that even these varieties are not
ordinarily dangerous, but only after
they have themselves become infected
by sucking the blood of a victim of
yellow fever, malaria, or elephantiasis. |
This makes it comparatively easy to
limit The spread of fevers by isolating |
the patients under mosquito curtains,