The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-13

them from attaching their names, bu
every statement is made with the high
est authority.
Just as malaria is transmitted from
man to man by the anopheles nosqui'
to- so yellow fever is spread broadcast
by the mosquito known as the Stego-
myia fasciata. In detail the processe:
differ, but in their main outlines they
are alike. In each case the insect bites
a sick man, sucks up the minute or
ganisms that cause the disease, har-
bors them in it's body and permits
them to attain a certain growth, and
then intects them into g well man and
makes him sick.
Wherever the stegomyia fasciata is
able to live, yellow fever constantly
threatens. Like the anopheles, 1t
breeds in stagnant pools, in drains and
in sWamps. 1t is a native of the West
India islands; and there is reason to
believe that it has fiourished there Tor
thousands of years. But not until Co
Iumbus landed on the coast of Cuba
and white men began TO navigate the
western Atlantic did it travel else
where.
Today the stegomyia is a natural
lied denizen of many places. IT
swarms in the brackish marshes along
the coast of the Gulf OF Mexico. II is
at home along the South American
coast as far southwark as Buenos
Ayres. II has appeared along the
Mediterranean. And it has journeyed
as far north as Boston.
1t breeds In all sorts OF damp. MD
den places, and 1t is great deal
harder to dispose of than the anophe-
les One investigator found II breed
ing In one end of horse trough that
was in daily use; another found II IN
a puddle of water on a banana ship
wharf in Baltimore. IT is elusive and
tough; so the business or driving IL out
requires a great deal OF care ana Skill
The stegomyia is a native or the
tropics. and is quickly killed by cold
weather. When the temperature falls
below 60 degrees 1t becomes incapact-
tated and does not bite. This explains
why yellow fever is seldom found in
the north and why few nights or
frost always suffice to end an cpl
demfc. But the eggs and larvae of the
MOSQUITO resist a very low tempera-
ture: therefore. while a cold snap will
stop an epidemic, IL will not prevent
other epidemics in future years.
AS in the case OF the anopheles, 1t
is only the female stegomyn that
bites human beings. The male is
vegetarian and harmless In order
that she may become infected the fe-
male must bite a man who is In the
earliest stages of yellow fever. After
she does so, the organism of the dis
ease develops in her body. and Wnen
twelve days have elapsed they have
attained maturity. Thereafter for at
least two months the infected female
is a menace to man. She may bite
fhRm
infectiOusness. indeed. probably con-
tinues as long as she lives.
The exact nature of the yellow Ie-
yer organism is still in dispute, but
probably il is a near relative 10 the
protoZoon that causes malaria when
il is introduced into the blood stream
by the bite of an infected stegomyia
there follows an incubation period Of
from two to six days. with three days
as the common mean
The patients first symptoms are
usually sudden chills and fever, &C
companied by headache and pains in
the eyes back and limbs. Thereafter
the temperature rises quickly and a
great many very serious manifesto
tions appear. The eyeballs and SKIN
turn yellow, the patient becomes much
exhausted, and there is vomiting of
blood-the familiar black vonIt.
hours; and even when recovery follows
it is labored and difficult.
The death rate among white men is
very high. Among the British troops
in the lower West India islands it used
to run up to 70 per cent. Even tC-
day with the best of care, il seldom
goes below 20 per cent. The negro
is less susceptible to yellow fever than
the white man, probably as result
of partial immunity inherited from
long generations of infected ancestors.
But even among native blacks the
mortality often reaches 10 per cent.
Contrary to the general opinion, yell
low fever is not contagious disease,
in the common acceptance of the term.
That is TO say, the bedding and cloth
ing of a patient are not capable OF
transmitting the disease to others, and
if there were no stegomyia mosquitoes
flying around, the proximity of yell
low fever sufferer would be in no more
of a menace TO others than the pres
ence of man suffering from tooth
ache OF Bright's disease.
In only one way. in fact, can the
malady be transmitted. That is by the
bite of an infected mosquito. There
fore, three means of stamping il out
suggest themselves.
/ Patients must be screened from
mosquitoes. so that the latter may not
bite them and become infected.
2. Healthy persons must be screened
from mosquitoes, so that those which
have become infected may not spread
the disease.
8. Diligent efforts must be made TO
kill all adult mosquitoes and to pre-
vent the Matching of their eggs.
These are the means adopted by the
American doctors in Cuba and on the
Isthmus of Panama to combat the
malady Now and then, of course, yell
low jack appears. despite the most
elaborate precautions. but It may be
said with confidence that its days of
devastation and terror are over. A
general epidemic-on the isthmus, for
instances now a very remote pos
sibiiity. The doctors there, as soon as
a few cases appeared, would make
such strenuous efforts to isolate and
screen the patients. to protect all
healthy persons, and to kill mosqui-
toes. that the outbreak probably would
never attain dangerous proportions.
It is an unfortunate fact. however,
that the facilities for fighting IN cpl
demic are not nearly so efficacious in
the coast ports of our southern states
fof- ha ar