Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-07

| are spread by in
sects. This interesting phase of the sit
uation is brought out in an interview
with DIR. Rupert Blue, surgeon general of
the United States public health service.
This is the first time in the history of
warfare that insects have been taken
seriously into account in the planning
of campaign he said.
1T is not because insects have all at
once begun to exercise a malignant in
huence upon the health of troops, but
because of new knowledge of the role
they play in relation to the physical well
fare of armies-a knowledge gained only
within the last few years.
! In considering the health problem in
relation to a campaign in Mexico we
are obliged to take into account mos
| quftoes. flies, feas lice, bedbugs and
possibly. ticks. OF these. all except the
| malarla-carrying mosquito and the tick
live in or about human habitations and
in intimate association with man.
| *
ITO put the matter definitely, we are
called upon to deal with:
| The mosquito with striped legs, known
to science as Stegomyia calopus, which
is the carrier Of yellow fever.
The Anopheles mosquito, night lier,
| which is the carrier and distributor of
malaria.
THE house fly, which is a carrier of
typhoid and other filth diseases.
| The common louise, which is the car
rier of typhus fever.
| THE flea, which is the carrier of
| THE tick. which is the carrier of
spotted fever, very fatal disease which
has worked much mischief in our own
| Rocky mountain region.
And finally the bedbug, which has
been accused of carrying several dis
| eases. The case against it as the car
| rler OF kala-azar-a febrile malady
! marked by a great enlargement OF the
| spleen-has been definitely proved
THE great medical problems incidental
to prolonged strife with Mexico would
be, in my opinion. malaria, yellow fever
| and typhus.
Against typhus We are comparative
ly safe. For the first time in history
a great army is ready to take the field
| thoroughly protected against the malady,
which In the past has been such a
wholesale destroyer of fighting men.
Taking advantage of recently gained
past campaigns, the Medical Corps of
the United States Army under the skill
full leadership of Brig. Gen. Gorgas has
erected barriers against the disease not
only by immunizing the soldiers as in
adoption Of means for the destruction
Of camp wastes, such wastes being a
fruitful source of infection. and Incl
dentally serving as a breeding medium
for the typhoid-carrying house fly.
t*
Some day we may know how to i'm
h,rt
as yet we are acquainted with no means
whereby this can be accomplished, I'M
less by inoculating them with the dis
ease. an expedient hardly to be recon-
mended.
Thanks to the effectiveness Of meth
DDS whereby this dangerous malady is
kept out of the United States or eradi-
Gated when it does enter, few people
in the country have had yellow fever
Consequently there are few immunes
and the raising of immune regiments
that are really immune does not offer
much promise. The hope. therefore. must
lie in protecting the fighting man against
the mosquito.
"The yellow fever mosquito is b,
habit a companion of man. 1t lives il
and about houses and is rarely found
far away from human dwellings. Orig.
inally, in all likelihood, 1t was a tree
hole mosquito, laying it's eggs in small
mutations of rain water in caVl
ties in trees. Having become domes'
| tic insect, it deposits its eggs nowadays
most often in artificial containers. sucf
as cisterns. says of roof cutters, old tir
cans, broken bottles on the tops of walls
cemetery urns and other casual recep
tacles for water.
"The remedy is obvious. Cisterns ant
| rain barrels must be screened to render
them mosquito proof; roofs must bt
looked to: tin cans and bottles must b.
gathered up and disposed of. These meas
lures may be supplemented by draining
and filing by oiling the surface of pond:
; or by the use of salt or other chemica
agents fatal to the larvae and discourag
ling egg laying. Small fishes may b.
PLANTED in waters where other method:
are ihapplicable.
THE individual must be protected BY
screens for dwellings,, tents or other hab
itations. 1t is important that all case:
of yellow fever shall be diagnosed by al
expert and that sufferers from the disease
shall be carefully defended against &C
cess by mosquitoes, lest they infect thu
I insects and thus encourage the distribu
ton of the malady. Every case, unles.
e properly guarded in this way, is pos
: sible focus of Infection from which al
epidemic might start.
Surgeon Gregorio Guiteras of thu
!. United States public health service ha:
been appointed health officer Of Vert
Cruz under the American administration
and Is already engaged in cleaning VI
that city and its environs. For centurie:
Vera Cruz has had very bad reputation
for yellow fever, and an epidemic nigh
break out there at any time. There !.
: even now an epidemic of the disease a
e Frontera, port some distance to tn
east.
ct might be said. by the way, that i,
8 Mexico yellow fever is children's dis
e ease. It Is. kept alive by children, tn
f adults being rendered immune by catch
e ing and getting through with it in earl.
i life.
I 1.-THE malaria carrying mosquito, bein.
e not particularly a house mosquito meas
i ures for the prevention of fits breeding
: have to be extended over a much widel
: area. These may include the ditchin:
o and draining of marshes. and are prop
u erlx tn hA sunnlemented by admiuistarint