The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-02

 in n single instance did yellow fever develop in the camp except at tho VIII of the experimenters. The experi- ments were conducted at a season when there was the least chance or naturally acquiring the disease and the mos ouftoes used were kept active by main taining them at summer temperature. A completely mosqufto-prool building was divided into two compartments Dy a wire screen partition; infected insects were liberated on one side only. A brave non-immune entered and remain ed long enough to allow himsef to De by yellow fever. while two susceptible men in the other compartment did not acquire the disease. although sleeping there thirteen nights. This demon- tain manner that the infectiousness of the building was due only to the pres ence of the insects
 Every attempt was made to infect clothes and other articles that had been used and soiled by patients suf- fering with virulent yellow fever.
 A Convincing Report.
 Naturally yellow fever Is transmit. ted by the mosquito. and always and ness of fomites has been fully demon- strated by our experiments in 1900 and 1901. in which three young Americans slept for twenty consecutive nights In
 
 excluded garnished with articles soil. ed with discharges from fatal and other cases of yellow fever. Three and four large boxes were packed and unpacked each morning by these non- immunes. who suffered no disturbance of health from these exposures. The room was twenty feet by fourteen feet: double-walled, tightly sealed, heated to above 90 degrees fahenheit and dark.
 Two other non-immunes then occu- pied the room for twenty nights, while additional articles of bedding and clothing were added. They slept in the garments and between the sheets CT. some of which were fatal. The re- suit of the second attempt was nil. A third attempt was then made with two additional non-immunes. equally with out success. Not the slightest tndis- position followed close and intimate contact with this replsive material in any cases. Temperatures and pulse rates were recorded at regular and frequent intervals. Four of these seven non-in- munes were subsequently, infected by blood injections and by means Of in fected mosquitoes.
 Another kind of experiment was included in the Cuban investigations of yellow fever. A room was prepared so as to preclude the possibility or infection by fomites dnfected artt- cles) Every article contained in the room had been previously disinfected and was thoroughly clean. The only possible means of infection with yell low fever was by infected mosquitoes. liberated in the room containing the human subjects of the experiment. Yellow fever promptly followed the introduction of mosquitoes into the room.
 What Experiments C'roved.
 Besides the experimental cases caused by mosquito bites, four non immunes were infected by injecting blood drawn directly from the veins of yellow fever patients in the first two days of the disease, thus demon strating the presence of an infectious agent in the blood at this early period of the attack.
 passed through bacteria-proof filter, was found to be capable of causing yellow fever in another person.
 The details of the experiments are flee to briefly sum up the principal conclusions of this admirable board of investigators of which Reed was the master mind:
 "l. The specific agent in the cau.s- ga. tion of yellow fever exists In the blood of . patient for the first three days of his attack, after which time he ceases to be Q menace to the health of others.
 "2 A mosquito of a single species, stcgomyia faciata, ingesttng the blood of the patient during the infec- tive period Is powerless to convey the disease to another person by It's bite until about twelve days have elapsed. but can do SO therafter for an indefi- nite period, probably during the re- mainder of It's life.
 "3 The disease can not be spread in any other way than by the bite of the previously infected stegomyia. Articles used or soiled by patients do not carry infection.
 These conclusions pointed so clearly to the practical method of exterminat- ing the disease that they were at once accepted by the sanitary authorities in Cuba and put to the test In Havana, where for nearly a century and nali. by actual record, the disease had never failed to appear annually.
 Havana Free from Fever.
 Tn February, 1901, the chief sanitary officer in Havana, Major w. c. Gorgas. Medical Department of the United States army. instituted measures 10 eradicate the disease, based entirely on the conclusions of the commission. Cases of yellow fever were required to be reported as promptly as possible and Immediately upon the report force of men from the sanitary department visited the house. All the rooms of the building and of the neighbOring houses were sealed and fumigated to destroy the mosquitoes present Window and door screens were put up and after the death or recovery Of the patient ms room was fumigated and every mos quito destroyed. A war of extermina- ton was also waged against the mos quitoes in general, and an energetic ef- fort was made to diminish the number bred by draining standing water, screen ing tanks and vessels, using petroleum on water that could not be drained, and in the most ssytematic manner destroy ing the breeding places of the insect
 When the warm season returned few cases occurred. but by September, 1901, the last case of yellow fever orig mated in Havana. since which time the city has been entirely exempt from the terrible disease that had there kept strong hold for l50 years. Cases are now admitted into Havana from Mexi- can ports, but are treated under screens with perfect impunity In the ordinary city hospitals. The crusade against the insects also caused very large de- crease in malarial fevers."
 More recent investigations into the cause and spread of yellow fever have only succeeded in verifying the work of Reed and his commission in every particular and adding very little to our knowledge of the disease.
 Later researches by Guiteras in Ha- vana, by the Public Health and Marine Hos pital Service in Vera Cruz, and last ly by the delegation from the Pasteur Institute of Paris in Rio de Janeiro, all