The New York herald., 1921-12-25
AIRING DEEDS OF UNSUNG SOLDIERS OF SCIENCE
Expedition to Trace Yellow Fever Germ Only
One Example of Romances That Never
Were Published-What Dr. No
guchi Accomplished

treatment wrote DR.. Noguchi, sin various
localities shows general agreement among
them the earlier serum is given, the lower
the mortality.
THE reduction in mortality among cases
treated on or before the third day Ia uude-
niable. On the other hand, the seruN does
not seem to exhibit any beneficial effect on
the course of the disease when given after
the fourth day of illness.
Comparison OF the mortality rates
among untreated cases with those of cases
treated with serum on or before the third
day brings out great difference in favor
of the treated cases, which 1t is difficult to
explain on the ground of accidental coin
cidence.
Serum of No Value
After the Fourth Day
Apparently the serum actually helped
to cut the infection short before it had
caused irreparable injury to the organs,
particularly the kidneys. Once such in
juries have been done, however, as is usually
the case in severe yellow fever by the
fourth day of illness, the serum cannot be
expected to effect any restoration. In GER
tain of these cases, however, marked i'm
rrovement has been reported to have oc-
Cured after the administration of serum,
owing probably to the fact that injury and
disorganization were proceeding slowly"
From the knowledge of the mosquito as
. carrier of the incitant of yellow fever
and apparently its only source it was clear
that the way to prevent the spread of the
scourge was either by keeping the mos
mutt frnp NJ far,fc tn he
early days of their illness through the
effective screening of windows and doors
or by killing as many of the pests as pos
sible and discouraging the breeding of
others by cleaning up the puddles and old
cans of water near dwellings in which they
breed and near which they love to linger
all their lives.
The challenge to science was to discover
so definite and demonstrable living thing
as this yellow fever germ which could hide
itself away in drop of blood or in the
carcass of a mosquito. The challenge was
{ taken up and pursued until the ancient
strongholds of ignorance and belief in fate
have been overthrown.
In commenting on what has been done
as sort of summary of his paper. the
latest to date, DR.. Noguchi says:
1T is understood that vaccination con-
stituted only a part of the campaign
against yellow fever, and in all the locali-
ties (where experimental work was done)
1T was carried out simultaneously with the
antistegomyia campaign. (That is, the
fight against the lady mosquito.)
"Just what part the vaccination played
in checking the further spread of the dis
ease is therefore not easily estimated; but
one fact stands out, namely, that practically
all persons vaccinated escaped yellow fever.
Notwithstanding the opportunities for in
fection to which both vaccinated and un-
vaccinated were alike exposed under other
wise identical conditions, as shown by the
fact that during the period of ten days fol-
lowing vaccination, before the protective
effect of the vaccine could have developed.
the number of victims of yellow fever
among vaccinated and unvaccinated was
equally great.
Vaccination, which protects the non
immune person from infection, is a valu-
able weapon in itself, although 1t does not
supplant the method of elimination of
yellow fever by the antistegomyia cam
paign"