El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-13

| part OF the world Taking care of
! ones health here is not unlike taking
care of an orchard Apples and peaches
[ are injured more by the insect T,astS
l which attack the trees than by Iacl~ Of
! cultivation or inferior sOiE If yoI 90,
! keep OFF the insects the luscious frI1iT
natures IN oountltuI quantities. 1t is
! the same with man in the tropics II
you can keep the parasites out of him
the temperate zone" ~
A Cost of One Cent Per Dov
| But DR.. Gorgas, are not the meth
1 DDS of sanitation used on the canaT q
! costly that no nation could afford TO
adopt them?"
No. They are cheap. The average
cost of keeping the population of me
| lsthmus IN its present sanitary condf-
ton is just about l cent per dav ner
J capita, and that sum is well within
/ the means of any tropical country. A
| great deal or mlsStatement has been
| made concerning that matter. 1t has
| been said that we were spending some
| thing like 100000 per year on sani-
! tation, and certain imaginative news
7 paper men have figured out that at
| the same ratio it would cost a vast
sum to keep the United States healthy
! Those figures did not come from this
J bureau. Our actual cost of santa
} tiOn has not amounted to more than
I SS65,0O0 per year, and this is for
population of $50, O00 It would amount
] per
per man. If you take the ratio of the
cost, as compared with that of Chi
cago or others Of the United States
cities you will find that we are spend
ing comparatively little. Indeed, I
have figured that we are spending here
only 10 percent more per capita than
is spent the United States over
The Deadly Mosquitoes.
The conversation here turned to the
two kinds of mosquitoes, which more
- r.
have driven the white men from the
tropics, and 1 asked Col COrgas to tell
me something about these terrible in
sects In the conversation which fol-
lowed, he said:
There are altogether about 400 diff
ferent kinds of mosquitoes, each Of
which has its own habit and peculiari-
ties. Take the Jersey mosquito That
breeds in salt water and will some
times fly 80 miles during the night 1t
is far more ferociOus than the malari-
al or yellow fever mosquito, and its
bite is more painful The malarial
mosquito Is known as the anOphele- II
bites during the daytime, but its chief
feeding time is at night. 1t is an out
door mosquito and usually lives IN
the country. 1t breeds in fresh water
and seeks fresh streams with long
grass at the sides or quiet pools. The
stegomyia or yellow fever mosquito
is more fond of the towns and the
cities. 1t breeds in cisterns, rain bar
rels, old cans filled with water and
stagnant pools. It Is not nearly SO
large as the Jersey mosquito and IS
grayish white with zebra stripes about
his body and legs.
Both the stegomyia and the anophele
have about the same habits as to re-
producing their young They feed up
on vegetable matter but the females
when they are about to breed must
have blood and for that reason they
attack man. They also have the prop
critics which make them the fit habi-
tat for the yellow fever and malarial
parasites. and If they feed upon man
who has malaria or the yellow fever
they take these parasites into their
system The parasites are so small
you cannot see them with a micro.
scope, but we know that they exist
and that the multiply so rapidly that
the finally come into the saliva of the
MOSQUITO. When the mosquito, having
been infected with these parasites, Z
bites man second time she injects
some. Of this saliva containing the par
asites and this gives man the yellow
fever or malaria
1t is. however the anopheIe only
that transmits malaria, and the steg-
omyia only that gives yellow fever.
There is no such thing as men having
either of these diseases if he is not
bitten by these mosquitoes"
yellow Fever Not Contagious.
But how do you know that, Col.
GOrgas?" I asked.
1T has been proved by many expert
ments. The fact that the malarial
mosquito would transmit malaria was
discovered by and English army sur
geon, Ronald Ross, and, as you may
remember, experiments were made in
the cSmpagna just outside Rome,
which proved there was no danger OF
disease in that fever stricken district
to those who live in screened houses
and were not bitten by mosquitoes.
The fact that the yellow fever mos
quito would transmit the yellow fever !
was discovered by a board of army
doctors, namely, Drs. Reed, Carroll, |
Agramonte and LaZear, at HAVANA |
It was their discovery that enabled US |
to wipe the yellow fever out of the /
island of Cuba and later on to clean !
experiments which showed that yell I,
low fever could not be taken unless /
man was bitten by a yellow fever /
mosquito. They had men sleep in beds |
in which yellow fever patients had 4
died. They even had them covered /
with the black vOmit of a yellow fever /
patient, and to be exposed TO the ema- 4
nations from yellow fever, but none /
tually bitten by yellow fever mos
quito. which was in the right cOndi-
ton to transmit the disease.
That story is too long to tell, now"
continued Col. GOrgas. ''ThOs discoV-
cries, however, will go down in history
as among the great events of the I
world, and the American doctors at
Havana who permitted themselves TO
be bitten by yellow fever mosquitoes
and thereby took the fever that they
might make these Investigations de-
serve to be ranked among the greatest
of our heroes. OF them, DR.. Lazear
died, DR.. Carroll took the disease. but
recovered. Dr. Reed was absent at
the time the test was made"
How the Zone Is Kept Healthy.
Tell me in few words how you /
keep out the mosquitoes. Col GOrgas."
"Our first work here was TO clean
up Panama and Colon, and especially !
all places on the zone within eco yards
of the settlements. We cleaned the
cities to get rid Of the yellow fever, |
and we have drained all places about |
the settlements and kept down the
to fight the malaria In
some places our drains are made of |
and in others they are open |
bitches which must be kept free from !
grass. We have also subsoil drainage.
We have taken away the breeding |
places and are trying to keep them |
away We have a mosquito brigade, |
which is devoted to this business. We
have also housed our men in mOsqui-
to proof quarters. Their homes are
S~, q ]