The Brandon news., 1905-08-10

day the residents of this house were
permitted to occupy tent pitched in
the immediate vicinity. but were
kept in strict quarantine.
December 18th fourth box Of
clothing and bedding was received
from Las Animas Hospital. These
articles had been used on the beds
OF yellow fever patients, but in ad-
dition had been purposely soiled with
the bloody stools Of fatal case of
this disease. As this box had been
packed for number of days, when
opened and unpacked by DR.. Cooke
and his assistants, on December 10,
the odor was so offensive as to COM
pei them to retreat from the house.
They pluckily returned, however,
within short time and spent the
night as usual.
December 10th these three non i'm
1nunes were placed in quarantine for
five days and then given the liberty
OF the camp. All had remained in
perfect health, notwithstanding their
stay OF twenty nights amid such un-
wholesome surroundings.
During the week, December 2O-27.
the following articles were placed in
this house, viz: Paiams suits, 1; un-
dershirts. Q; night shirts, 4 pillow
slips, 4; sheets, 6; blankets, 5;pillows,
q mattresses, /. These articles had
been removed from the persons and
beds of four patients sick with yellow
fever and were very much soiled, as
any change of clothing or bed linen
during their attacts had been pur-
posely avoided, the object being. to
obtain articles as thoroughly contain
mated as possible.
From December 81, 1900, till Jan.
uary 10, 1901, the building was
again occupied by two non immune
young Americans, under the same
conditions as the preceding ocou-
pants, except that these men slept
every night in the very garments
worn by yellow fever patients through
out their entire attacts, besides MAX
ing use exclusively of the much -soiled
pillow slips, sheets and blankets. At
the end of twenty -one nights of such
intimafs contact with these fomites,
they also went into quarantine, from
which they were released five days
later in perfect health.
From January 18th till January
31st, period of twenty days, Build
ing No. u continued to be occupied
by two cher non immune Americans,
who, Liz those who preceded them.
had slept every night in tie beds
formerly occupied by yellow fever
patients, and in the night shirts used
by these patients throughout the at
tact, without change. In addition,
during the last fourteen nights of
their occupancy of this house they
have slept every night with their pill
lows covered with towels that had
been thoroughly soiled with the blood
drawn from botn the general and ca
pillary circulation, on the first day
Of the disease, in the case of we'll
marked attact of yellow fever. Not
withstanding this trying ordeal, these
men have continued to remain in per-
feet health.
The attempt which we have there
fore made to infect Building No. II
and its seven non-immune occupants,
during period Of sixty three days,
has proved an absolute failure. We
think we cannot do better here than
to quote from the classic work of La
Roach. This author says: ''In re-
lation to the yellow fever, we find SO
many instances establishing the fact
of the non -transm1ssibility of the
disease through the agency of articles
Of the kind mentioned, and Of mer-
chandise generally, that we cannot
but discredit the accounts OF a con-
trary character assigned in medical
writings, and still more to those
presented on the strength of popular
report solely. For if, in a large num-
Der Of we'll authenticated cases such
articles have been handled and used
with perfect impunity and that, too,
under circumstances best calculated
to insure the effect in question-we
have every reason to conclude that a
contrary result will not be obtained
in other instances of q similar kink !;
and that consequently the effect said
to have been produced by exposure to
those articles, must. unless established
beyond possibility Of a doubt, re-
ferred to some other agency
The question here naturally arises,
how does house become infected
with yellow fever? This we have
attempted to solve by the erection at
Gamn Tozoor of q cocoud hcrcn