The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-17
THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA
 :7V--7he Triumph of Scientific Sanitation
By Frederic ]. HasLin.

1llllI1 v E'f4 lz ga hl '
 Havana. Jan, Is-scientific sanita-
 ton for the purpose of preventing
 epidemic. disease has achieved its most Ispectacular triumph in the Island of Cuba For centuries this island had been scourged each year by the dread yellow fever. The natives became im-
 mune. but the immigrants were the
 ready prey of Yellow Jack. From
 Havana the disease was often spread
 to foreign ports. and the southern por- ton of the United States paid dread ful toll to. it's progress.
 American army medical officers dis
 covered that yellow fever germs were
 transmitted by a certain variety of mosquito, that the mosquito must bite the patient within the first three days
 of his fever in order to carry the germ. and that the way to fight yell low fever was to destroy the mosquito. Under the direction of Major W. c. lGofgas. during the administration of General Wood in Cuba, the war was waged relentiessly. The way to fight the mesquite was to deprive it of breeding places. That meant to clean lpp. Havana and the whole island of Cuba were secured and scrubbed. It was cleaner than any other 44,000
 square miles of inhabited territory ever was. before or since,
 Finally the day of triumph came.
 when in September. 1901. for the first fever. It had existed here In epidemic
 form sine the days of Ojeda and De Soto. It was believed to be . the scourge of God, and it's absolute de-
 struction was not believed to be pos
 sible. In that great victory the Ameri- cans were given the invaluable assist
 ance of two famous Cuban medical
 men. Dr. Guiteras and pr. Finlay. These two men knew, more about yell
 They formulated the theories which
 the Americans tested, proved and put into practice.
 Under the military government of the first occupation of Cuba the general authority at Havana was su- preme, and the sanitary work was carried forward all over the island When the Americans left and the Cuban Republic was established. the system was changed and the various municipalities were charged with the responsibility of sanitary work In
 Havana, supported by the national purse, the work was kept up In many parts of the island 1t was sadly neglected and in other places 1t was laltogether abandoned.
 For nearly four years there was not a case of fever reported from the whole island. Men began to believe that yell low fever was a thing of the past.
 This fancied security induced relaxa-
 ton of the guard. The quarantine restrictions were not strictly enforced. and in October, 1905, two cases Of yell low fever were discovered in Havana. | It was found that the disease had been brought from abroad. The epidemic did not assume great proportions yet for two months 1t was quite serious
 Tn the year 1900, when the Gorgas
 war on the mosquito was begun. there
 were BIO deaths from yellow fever In
 Havana. Tn 1901 there were only eighteen. For the next three years there was not a case in the whole is- land. In the last three months of 1905 there were twenty-one deaths Tn
 Havana, in 1906 there were twelve. in 1907 and 1908 there was one death Tor each, year. Since September. g, 1908, the island has again been entirely free from the disease. i, After the reintroduced disease had been brought under control in Havana there was breaking out at Cienfue- EOS, the origin of which has not been definitely traced Yet neither of these Ioutbreaks was at all bad when com pared to the olJ records Of the. ols- ease in Cuba. There had been an im-
 migration of. almost a quarter Of million non-immune people during the
 four years of the absence of the dis ease. The number of people. open to attack was ten times greater than at
 any period before the first American Occupation. Yet the disease was Kept within bounds that would have been considered normal and non-epidemic fifteen years before. l-
 Here again was the triumph or
 science. Every person found to have a
 fever of any kind whatever was i'm Imediately isolated and screened. NO
 chances were taken. The destruction
 of the mosquitoes was made absolute.
 There were some unaccountable infec-
 tions. but they were not permitted to
 spread.
 It is worth remarking that, the war
 against the mosquito which carries the yellow fever germ has resulted in the partial elimination of his cousin who
 carries malaria, and his other kinsman
 who doesn't carry disease germs, but
 who is very unpleasant companion
 for a human being. In the city of 1 Havana in 1900 there were S25 deaths
 from malaria, fifteen more than from
 the more dreaded yellow fever. Since
 that time the number of malarial cases