Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-04-09
THE CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.
CUBA HAS TWO SEASONS THE
WET AND DRY.
Lies Within The Tropics Bot Temperature
Modified BY Trade Winds Eradica.
tiOn Of Yellow Feyer-The Triumph
of Science Over MOsdlIitO.
WHAT AN ARMY SURGEON DID
FOR HUMANITY.

/ tirely completed, DIR. Carroll, a mem
ber OF the commission, allowed him
self TO be bitten by mosquito that
twelve days previously had filled IT,
| self with the blood OF a yellow fever
/ patient. lie suffered from very
severe attack, and his was the first
| experimental case. Or. Lazear also
| experimental on himself at the same
| time, but was not infected. Some
days later, while in the yellow fever
| ward, he was bitten by mosquito
1 and noted the fact carefully. lie
acquired the disease in its most ter
| rible form, and died martyr TO sci
ence, and true hero. No other fa-
| tality occurred among the brave men
who, i'm the course Of the experiments,
| willingly exposed themselves TO the
| infection of tho dreaded disease.
"a camp was specially constructed
| for the experiments about four miles
| from Havana, christened Camp Lazear
| in honor of the dead comrade. The
| inmates of the camp were put into
most rigid quarantine and ample time
was allowed to eliminate any possi-
| billy OF the disease being brought in
from Havana.
a completely mosquito-proo +
building was divided into two com
partments by wire screen partition;
| infected insects were Liberated on one
side only. A brave non immune en-
tered and remained long enough To al.
low himself to be bitten several times.
tie was attacked by yellow fever,
while two susceptible men in the other
compartment did not acquire the dis
case, although sleeping there thirteen
nights. This demonstrates in the sim
plest and most certain manner that the
righteousness of the building was
due only TO the presence of the i'm
sects.
Every attempt was made TO infect
individuals by means of bedding,
clothes and other articles that had
been used and soiled by patients
suffering with virulent yellow fever.
Volunteers slept in the room with
and handled the most filthy articles
for twenty nights, but not "A symptom
of yellow fever was noted among
them, nor was their health in the
slightest degree affected. Nevertheless
they were not immune to the disease,
for some of them were afterward pur-
posely infected by mosquito bites.
This experiment indicates at once the
uselessness of destroying valuable
property for fear of Infection.
THE details of the experiments are
most interesting, but IL must here
suffice to sum up the principal con-
clusions of this admirable board of
investigators of which Reed was the
master mind:
II. The specific agent in the causa-
tion of yellow fever exists in the blood
of ratient for the first three day of
his attack, after which time he ceases
to become a menace to the health of
others.
-. A mosquito of single species,
Stegomyia fasciata, ingesting the
blood of a patieut during this infee-
tive period is powerless To convey
the disease 20 another person by its
bite until about twelve days have
elapsed, but can do SO thereafter for
an indefinite period, probably during
the remainder OF its life.
%. The disease cannot in nature
be spread in any other way than by
the bite of the previously infected
Stegomyia. Articles used and soiled
by patients do not carry Infection.
"These conclusions pointed SO
clearly to the practical method of ex-
terminating the disease that they
were at once accepted by the sanitary
authorities in Cuba and put to the
test in Havana, where for nearly
century and half. by actual record,
the disease had never failed 10 APP
pear annually.
Sin February, 1901, the Chief San
ittary officer in Havana, Major w. G.
Gorgas, Medical Department, L. ;.
Army. instituted measures TO eradi-
| cate the disease, based entirely on the
conclusions of the commission. Cases
Of yellow fever were required 10 be
| reported as promptly rs possible, the
| patient was at first rigidly isolated
/ and Immediately upon the report a
/ force of men from the sanitary depart
i ment visited the house. All the rooms
| of the building and of the neighbor-
| ing houses were sealed and fumigated
| to destroy the mosquitoes present.
1 Window and door screens we're put up,
| and after death or recovery of the pa
/ tient, his room was fumigated and
| every mosquito destroyed. A war of
discrimination vas also waged against
| mosquitoes in general, and an ener-
getic effort was made to diminish the
number bred by draining standing
| water screening tanks and vessels,
using petroleum on water that could
not be drained, and in the most sys-
tematic manner destroying the breed
ing places of the insects.
.'When the warm season returned a
few cases occurred, but by September,
1901, the last case of yellow fever
originated in Havana, since which
time the city has been entirely exempt
from the terrible disease that had
there kept stronghold for a hundred
and fifty years.
THE destruction of the most fatal
epidemic disease of the western hemis.
phere in its favorite home city. is but
the BEGINNING OF the benefit to man
kind that may be expected to follow
the work OF Heed and his associates.
There can he no manner of doubt
should Mexico, Brazil and the Central
American Republics, where the dis
ease still exists, follow strictly th,
example set by Havana. that yellow
fever will become extinct and the
United States forever freed from tn,
scourge, that has in the past slair
thousands Of our citizens and caused
the loss of untold treasure
DN4 - I4Tt T-n tr -0,,,tw1Vr