The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-31
DISEASE SPREAD
 BY MOSQUITOES Science Definitely Decides ii is
 the Medium THE STEGOMYiA FASClATA This Mosquito Is the Incubator and Dispenser of Yellow Fever Poison.
 The Anapheles Deals
 Out Malaria.
BY PERCY CLARK.

The most advanced scientists or the medical profession have reached the con- clusion that as insects are ehargeable with the ailings and diseases so are certain ones responsible for the transmission or deadly levers. Biologists have caught the mosquito with the poison on 1t. The tegomyia fasciata is the yellow fever fend. About twenty years ago pr. Car los Finlay of Havana declared that tho mosquito was the cause of the spread of yellow fever but he was unable to praeti- cally demonstrate his theory.
 In 1890 the American Yellow Fever com- mission under the direction of Dr. Walter Reed (now deceased), conclusively demon- strated that yellow fever is conveyed ny inoculation by the bite of a particular mo- sauito to wit: The female stegomyia: 1: that this mosquito acts as most or that once within it's small body the germ taken from a yellow fever patient is not mechanically, as a hyperdermic drawn and discharged into fresh subject but undergoes a process of incubation so that the lapse of at least twelve days will in- terverie before the poison is ready Tor the victim in a warm climate. and as long as eighteen days sometimes elapses in a cooler climate.
 Would Requirs Exposure.
 Now if an original case comes into an uninfected place it would require ex- posture to the stigomyia first within three days after the fever developed. then lapse of two to three weeks before new subject could be inoculated by the mo- squito.
 These results were reached by using two especially constructed buildings. In one seven non-immunes were kept and they used the bedding and night clothes which had been used by yellow fever pa tients. some of whom had died. The bed clothing was soiled by blood. black vomit and other discharges from the patients. After sixty-three days no fever had de- veloped; mosquitoes were excluded rom these seven patients.
 In the other building seven healthy per- sons were shut in and exposed to the bites of infected stigomyia and six of the seven developed typical cases of yellow fever
 Prior to this discovery Cuba had not been free from yellow fever for 15O years. If a house now becomes infected the only process of disinfection is to kill the mo- squitoes.
 Time Varies.
 The time of infection from the bite varies from forty-one hours to five days and seventeen hours, or about an average of three days.
 Infected mosquitoes have been known to live 154 days and may live longer. An in- stance is known of infection hfty-nine days after taking a bite of yellow fever patient.
 The stigomyia is found all over the east ern part of the United States as far north as 3S degrees.
 It is the daylight operator, biting more perniciously in the afternoon. usually from the rear, without warning, but al- ways sings a song of triumph" when successful. Its meal of blood satisfies it for three or four days.
 This type of mosquito is found about houses and it does not fly for, 1t is esti- mated not over 100 yards. It breeds in water; that is the female can deposit her 40 to 400 eggs only in stagnant water. An adult mosquito cannot live without access to water longer than five or six days.
 Lays Forty Eggs.
 The stegomyia lays not over forty or fifty eggs, which are susceptible to hatch ing after being dry for months. It is the blackeSt mosquito with silver bands around it's legs and 1t Is marked with silver stripes across it's back. It is of medium size
 There are two other kinds of mosquitos quite common, the culex and the an- ophales; the first transmits dengue fever. under favorable conditions, but otherwise Is harmless. The anophales is the mala rial transmitter; it Is brownish and straight lined body and bill, while the other two are hunp-backed. Always 1t Is the female which transmits the disease.
 To destroy mosquitos one ounce of crude petroleum, ordinary kerosine, to fifteen square feet of water will do, but 1t evap- crates rapidly and should be renewed once a week. In case of large pools perch and small minnows will destroy the larvae or wiggletails, baby mosquitos.
 To destroy them in a house use one pound of sulphur to an ordinary size room which must be closed, tightly for two hours. then open and and the dead and stupefied insects swept out
 Thorough screening Is advisable for health. as protection from flies Which carry typhoid germs on their dirty feet and mandibles (feelers) and mosquitos which carry a hyperdermic charged with fever
 A good frost will destroy the stegomyia. In the matter of malaria there Is no such thing as an immune: once inoculated there may be a recurrence of symptoms period- cally for years. The one great remedy is quinine.
 In the matter of yellow fever once in- oculated always immune.