The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-20
|N0 FEAR OF FEVER
DR. SANDERS SEES LITTLE DANGER
 FROM YELLOW PLAGUE.
State Health Officer Thinks Havana Is to Be Watched More Closely This
 Summer Than New
 Orleans.

That there is small danger of visfta- tton of the yellow fever seourse in tne | South this year provided there is proper | observance of the laws governing quaTan- | tine. is the statement given out by Dr. w | H Sanders, State Health Officer, at the | Capitol yesterday
 With the present laws governing the | quarantine of ports. he declared. there is l only remote possibility that the disease | will again reach the United states. and If I 1t does, there is small likelihood of 1t pen- l etrating to the confines of Alabama Only one course through which the fever might slip into the State is left unprovided | tor at the present, thinks the State Health l Officer. and that is the United states reg ulation regarding the entrance of immuncs | permits of possibility of carrying contagion | and should be remedied. In an interview | given to a representative of The Advertiscs l yesterday Dr. Sanders said:
 ''The situation. in the South this year regard as being greatly improved so far az | the outlook for danger from yellow feve' is concerned Not only are the people Of | the Southern States frightened by the wis ; itation Of last year, more wideawake, and more prepared to fight the fever. but pre- | ventive action taken this year should be far more effective than it was last season. New orleans. has in the majority of in | stances in the past been the starting point for the fever This year. r feel that there | Is only remote pOssluHlty UT lhs PidSuS l getting to that point. If it should. how | aver I believe. that under the present di- | rection of affairs. there is small danger of l 1t spreading.
 1 Not only has the Louisiana State Board ' of Health taken rigorous steps to prevent | the introduction of the fever. but the | policy of publicity which has been inau- l eurated will go far toward putting an | end to any contagion should 1t once find | a foothold in the Crescent City. In former | kt.n .f fha hrff fNa to keep a yellow fever contagion from tn" | knowledge of the people as long as possI | ble now. on the other hand, it is the policy | of the authorities to make known the exist | ence of the plague as soon as 1t Is discov- l cred, and by making public every case. 1t IS | easier to locate 1t and to fight it success l fully.
 | q really have small fear of the fever | reaching us through New Orleans. Havana | is more to be feared. believe. than Loui- | sIana Over there, the publicity idea has | not gained the force 1t has in New Orleans. 1 It is always easy when a man lands from | aonther seaport infected with the disease. | to trace the cause of the fever and conifne | it. But when one hears of cases where l there is no apparent source. as one does in | the Cuban capital the only inference pos | sible is that there are other cases the ex- | istenee of which is not known When yell 1 low fever infests Havana, 1t is much more 1 likely to be farther reaching than the city
  | efficient system they have al that port for bringing all suspected cases to light.
 "The chief danger from Havana, however. lies in the defect in the United states Ma
 rine laws, which permit any person bearing | a certificate of immunity from the port l physician of Havana. te pass through port under United States government con- | trol immediately upon his arrival without | being held the customary time in quaran- 1 tine. In the States of Alabama, Georgia | fba under | supervision of the states, In Florida and Georgia, however, the United States Marine | has the control of the ports.
 'Nnw. it fig a known fact. that frequently 1t is a hard matter for physicians. even nt
 the greatest experience. to correctly dtag~
 nose a case of yellow fever. Frequently it 1 happens, that a is adindged 10 have | the plague, when his trouble is of an eli- l tirely different nature. If the man dies l an autopsy will show that his disease w9V | very different from the fever. If. how ever. he recoyers. 1t would be hard for any l physician to say whether he had had veil IVY
 fover something else.
 'T have no doubt that many persons have | been declared immune who have never had | the fever Suppose one of these, producing
 proofs in Havana. of evidence which would
 seem like proof. should apply to the phy~
 slcian of the port. and secure a certificate | of immunity. He takes steamer for Tam. pa, and arrives there in twenty-four hours
 From there he takes train and is in Mont
 gomery in another twenty-four hours p he should have yellow fever in hts system | when he leaves Havana, it might very eas l fly not make its appearance until after
 his arrival in this city. And. yet. the
 physician in Havana, might have had what 1 he considered indispurabie evidence that | the man had had the disease and was thers- | fore immune.
 Nov, under the State laws of Alabama.
 Texas and Louisiana, all voyagers from | infected ports requ1ed to have beao l away from their point of sailing at least
 five days--in Louisiana. believe 1t Is six-- | before they are permitted to land. Five 1 days is also the limit set for such peraOns
 by the United States marine law. except iD
 the cases of persons bearing certificptes of l immunity These may land at once whet-
 ever their ship happens to touch In port
 Thus. our Gulf cities in states where the
 quarantine law Is under local supervision.
 are shutting the front door very effective | ly but are leaving the back door open. if
 not wide. at least wide enough to permit of
 the cause of trouble creeping in.
 "The only remedy under the present sys-
 tenn. 1t seems to me. is for tho United States government to establish a quarantine | at all ports within five days voyage of in-
 fected ports, and require passengers. wheth-
 CT they bear certificates of immunity or | not to keep outside the five days limit l Otherwise, we can never feel absolutely safe, 1 although the risk may be reduced to a min l mum.
 "It would be well for the government.
 however, to establish In all cities where
 yellow fever is found. . system for keeping
 a record of all yellow fever cases reported.
 When several reputable physicians all diag-
 nose the yellow fever. the man
 should be placed the list. and if he TO-
 covers he might be considered as an i'm
 mune If certificates were issued only to
 these peoaple, and not to those who merely
 produce proof of having had the plague at
 some previous period. the risk would be | practically eliminated"
 Dr. Sanders returned yesterday from trip north. which he made to attend the
 annual meeting of the American Medical | Association in Boston last week. During | the convention, he read paper on State | Medicine. Its Foundation SuDerstructure and Scope He reported that the cnnven-
 ton was the largest in the history of the organization. 4.70O physicians from various parts of the United States having been in attendance during the sessions On his
 return trip to Montgomery. he spent several
 days in New York. Baltimore and Wash in@ton.
 II