The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-03-27

uents which had died of yellow foya
IN the other room We're set free mo-
qultoes which had bitten yellow few.
patients. A number of volunteers live
Tor time in each Of these rooms. !
the one they came into the most ir,t
mate relation with what are Gale
technically 'Formites,' that is ms
, terlal that might be supposed to carr
the contagion Of the disease. while i
the other room they only came in cor
tact with mosquitoes which had bite
yellow fever patents. The result G
this test was TO show that the contac
with the effects of the yellow feye
patents, much of which was aet1,ar
soiled with the discharges of the sfcb
was not harmful while those who wer
/ simply exposed to the bites of mos
quftoes, which had bitten the sick
contracted the disease. Subsequent,
the tentative conclusion so arrive al
| that the disease was transmitted b.
the bite of infected mosquitoes, wa!
] confirmed and a number of other in
I teresting points about the germ wer,
| demonstrated For example If MA.
shown that in the early stages of the
disease in man the blood was infec.
tious but that the disease germ dis
appeared from the blood of the patient
even before the disease was cured. II
was also found that the germ, at least
at certain stages of it's development,
was so small that it would pass
through the tiny parasites of the un-
glazed porcelain filter It was also
shown that, just as in malaria. an
interval of some days, about twelve,
PlanSR hQTw6nn hot bn
mosquito bites case of yellow fever
before it becomes capable of trans
ferring the disease TO a new person
LAS soon as the fact of the mosquito
transmission of the disease was firmly
established it cleared up number of
points about the occurrence and dis
tribution OF the disease which had
previously been obscure. For exam
ton of the disease depended upon the
geographical range of the species of
mosquito that carried the infection
from case to case. Consequently. the
previously observed fact, that yellow
fever never occurred above certain al
tttudes and was absent during cold
weather, was understandable The
reason that altitude prevented yellow
rarefied but that the critical altitude
at which the disease ceased was that
which marked the upper limits of the
range of the yellow fever
Similarly the disappearance
IF the disease during the cold weather
was due not to the cold affecting the
germ directly but because the cold
1illed or caused TO hibernate, the mos
quito that carried the disease.
You must understand that the
germ of yellow fever has never been
recognized by the human eye. This is |
lot from lack of looking, for as soon |
IS the fact that the germ was present /
n the mosquito that had bitter. a I
ase of yellow fever was demonstrated, /
n enormous amount of work was done |
n the hope that by painstaking study /
gith the microscope the germ could be
Up to the present time it
as never been discovered. All that we
an say about it is that it is of very
ainute size, at certain stages of its
evelopment, as witness the fact that
passes through a layer of unglazed
orcelaln. BY analogy we believe that
is an animal parasite, owing to the
of its mode of transmission
} that in malaria eby a single species
f mosquito. We can only hope that
18th more powerful microscopes and
lore refined methods OF staining it
lay be dem6nstrable in the future.
"A heavy price has been paid for
ur knowledge of yellow fever. DR..
azeer died of yellow fever during the
arly part of the work of the Army
commission DIR. Reeds health was
battered and he died a few years
fter his return to Washington. The
,maining American member of the
DR. Carol, died last year,
ever having fully recovered his health
tier an attack of yellow fever which
; contracted during the work of the
A few years ago the
liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
mt two investigators to Para, in
rail, to study the disease, and as
IS often occurred in the work of this
stftution. which devotes its attention
lrticuIarly to infectious diseases or
q tropics only one of their men re-
rned. A year or so later German
died of yellow fever
nfle investigating the disease IN
RAIL. 1t is to hoped that the full
ice has been paid and that hereafter, :
it'll our increased knowledge of the
sease no more useful lives will have :
be sacrificed to its study. \
Now for the bright side Of the pic
re What has our new knowledge of
,Ilow fever, purchased at such a
ice, done for us? First of all Cuba
IS been practically freed from the
sease. This means. not alone that
,ndred of lives are saved annually
that island, but that Cuba Is no
niger a. menace to our South Atlantic 4
Id Gulf Seaboard as a place of origin
destructive epidemics of yellow
yer. 1T has made possible the work
digging the Panama Canal. 1t has
If the task of fighting epidemics or
g disease and the matter of maritime
Iarantfne against the disease on
m basis Surely the price has not
e1 too heavy
sTn conclusion we may profitable
m up the various ways in which the
creased knowledge of infectious
seases which has been gained in the
st fifty years has effected our life.
lis can be put under three heads,
mely, an
First. prompt recognition of the ma
re of a given case of sickness. T.
Second, the use of artifcially pro-
49, S1,14 /