The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-07-18

Honolulu, in the extent of quaran
tine work required and done, lead;
every city under American jurisdiction
except Mania
Such was one of the surprising state
ments made by DR.. Cofer, at the head
of the United States Marine Hospital
and Quarantine service here, in an
address before the Chamber of Com
merce yesterday afternoon. 1t was
an address which was prolonged sew
eral times at the insistence of those
present, and covered three principal
subjects of quarantine, all of them of
the highest Importance to Honolulu
These were, Yellow Fever, Plague and
Smallpox.
In presenting DR.. Cofer to the meet
ing, which was one of the largest
meetings the Chamber has held for a
long time, President Morgan stated
that it had been decided some time
ago to ask men who were authorities
in special subjects to address the
Chamber on those subjects, and he
had the pleasure of presenting DR..
Cofer as the first of these.
'fYellow fever" began DR.. Cofer,
t'should, ] believe, interest US more
than anything else among quarantin-
able diseases. The reason is that the
Hawaiian Islands are infectible ter
ritory-not infected territory-but in
feetible, because we have here the
mosquito which is the medium of trans
mission of the disease. With this
mosquito and one case of yellow fever,
the conditions of epidemic are COM
plete.
"'For the past three weeks the name
of this mosquito has been Stegomia
Calopus. The name has been changed
three or four times in the past few
years for the purpose of better classi-
1ication and more certainty of identi-
feation, and the present name, the one
1t has now borne for three weeks, is
Stegomia CaIopus. 1t is the mosquito
known here as the day mosquito.
'CoatzocoaIcos, the northern term
inus of the Tehuantepee Railroad, is
both infectible and infected territory.
1t has the Stegomia Calopus, and it
has frequently had the yellow fever.
1t viii continue to be infected in all
probability for a long time. The rail
road has done much reclamation work,
and greatly improved conditions. But
this reclamation work must extend
much further back before the city is
free from infection. In conditions it
Is very similar to Vera Cruz. 1 so re-
ported it when I was there, and it
has been so treated since, much to
the satisfaction of New Orleans and
other cities on that side having com
municatiOn with it.
''SaIina Cruz on the Pacific side is
infectible, though not infected. There
is much in the conditions there to
give US assurance The soil Is sandy,
the drainage is good, and they have
high winds. There are not many mos
quitoes there At the hotels and in
the residences of the better classes, |
one would seldom find one. But among
the poems they are more frequent. But |
Salina Cruz must always be regarded |
as a point of departure for yellow
fever. 1t must be remembered that |
there are other towns along the Tehu-
antepec Railroad which are more or
less infected with yellow fever and
that travel between them and Salina
Cruz is constant.
''Now as to yellow fever itself, 1t
usually begins with just such symp-
toms as are frequently felt by one who
has eaten a rich and elaborate din
ner, perhaps with a good deal of wine,
when he wakes up in the night and
finds himself sick. This period of
feeling pretty sick with high
fever, lasts for FIVE days. Then the
patient feels better for two or three
days. and then comes the crisis. The
patient either dies or convalescenee
begins. In yellow fever countries the
symptoms are readily recognized. |
Where yellow fever is not prevalent, Z
hey are so similar to the symptoms
II other diseases that their true i'm