Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-06
Active Efforts to Prevent Dis
ease Getting Into Country.
RIGID INSPECTIONS MADE
First Case From Abroad Identified
at Laboratory Here.
MAN HAD BEEN A CARRIER"
Surgeon General Wyman Returns
From Consultation With DR..
Doty in New York.

All possible precautions are being takeI
in this country to prevent serious de-
velopments here from the cholera cpl
demic with which sections of Europe nov
are afflicted. Surgeon General Wyman Of
| the public health and marine hospfta
service returned to Washington toda,
after a consultation with DR.. Doty, thu
health officer of the port of New York
He told of the precautions that were
being taken abroad in the inspection o!
emigrants departing for the United States
DR.. Doty will arrange his work here
with a view to cooperating with these
| preliminary precautions.
1t has been decided that if there be q
| cholera case among the steerage pas
sengers and the ship is not suffering
from what is termed ship Infection" the
| cabin passengers will not be detained
This has been done already in the case
of the Fabre liner SAINT Anna, among
whose steerage passengers there wa.
one cholera death. but whose cabin pas.
| sengers were landed yesterday.
The inspecting force at all Of the Amer.
lean ports has been doubled, and all inn
migrants from infected districts are sub
jected to examination and fumigation OF
their baggage.
To Aid Surgeon Geddings.
DR.. ]. S. Eager of the marine hospital
service has been ordered to Naples
where he will either assist Surgeon Ged-
dings, now stationed there, or be availa-
BILE for duty elsewhere, as Surgeon Ged-
dings may direct. He speaks Italian flu
emily.
The objections of the Italian govern
nent to the rigid inspections which have
been imposed upon merchandise food
era-infected districts will be met by In
creasing the forces of inspectors and
eliminating the delay which 1t is be-
lieved has been the cause of much Of the
irritation
Acting on the advices of the public
health and marine hospital service, this
government is combining it's restrictions
to food products shipped from the dis
tricts actually infected. The inspection
extends to the conditions surrounding the
manufacture and handling of the prod
ucts.
1t was in pursuance of the critical sys-
tenn of examination now enforced that
the first cholera case from abroad was
identified at the hygienic laboratory here
this week.
Thought Malaria at First.
September 20 was one sick man who was
taken off the steamer at New York and
treated. He was treated for malaria,
but under the treatment suspicious symp-
toms developed, and he died. 1t looked
like a possible case of cholera, and the
cultures were sent to Washington for
positive identification. The hygieniC
laboratory here is the only place in the
country having the serum for making
the final and conclusive test, and the
specimen was turned over to DR.. John T.
Anderson, the director Of the laboratory,
for confirmation. 1t was found that the
case undoubtedly was cholera, and that
the man had been cholera carrier"
The test that was made at the hygienic
laboratory vas interesting and is a sure
way of identifying a cholera case. In
the first place the suspected sample is
subjected to the agglutinating test. 1t is
put In tube with q special serum, and
If the diseased specimen is cholera the
germs will bunch and settle to the bottom
of the tube. leaving the upper part of
the liquid clear. This is almost q. GER
tain test, but there is a final one regarded
as infallible after this test has been ap-
piled. 1t is known as Pfeiffer's reac-
ton.
A sample of the agglutinated germs is
passed through a special serum from an
immunized animal. If the disease is
cholera the germs will swell and finally
be dissolved. leaving no trace behind The
Washington laboratory is the only place
in the country now equipped to make this
test.