The Washington herald., 1921-10-23
SPREAD OFFEVER
IN SOUTH AMERICA
FINALLY CHECKED
Campaign Under U. s,
Surgeon Wipes Out
Yellow Plague.
Special o.sl. :. n. ws.Al.ss.s x.r.id

Special oabls 70 Tia wsshinstsa Herald
and Chicago Tribuns.)
LIMA. Oct. 15.-Yellow fever has
been definitely conquered on the
west coast of South America, and il
q thing of the past, according to DR..
Joseph Hill White, assistant sur
geon general of the United States
public health service, who has>come
to Lima from Guayaquil, Ecuador,
one Of the last haunts Of yellow
jack" DR.. White 10 also special
yellow fever commissioner Of the
international health board. Rookie
Teller foundation, and has just COM
pleted a trip through Ecuador and
Northern Peru, surveying the work
that has been SO successfully car
ried out In lighting yellow fever in
those regions. ..
DR.. White states that no case OF
yellow. fever has occurred in Ecua-
dor In more than a year, and the
steamship companies have removed
duaratine restrictions from vessels
calling at Guayaquil, once the pest
hole of the west coast. As for the
recent epidemic in Northern Peru.
the last case recorded In the de-
partment Of LambayeQue was on
June 20. and In the department Of
Libertad on July IL. At the same
time. the percentage Of breeding
tof the stegomyia mosquito, the yell
low fever carrier. has been reduced
to one per cent or less in the Affect
ed areas.
Thrfves IN Populated Sections.
The yellow fever campaign which
has been carried out in the north
ern provinces of Peru has been In
charge Of DR.. Henry Hanson and
has covered q more extensive area
than any other similar campaign in
the last quarter Of a century. In
praising the work Of DR.. Hanson,
DR.. White pointed out that yellow
fever tends to thrive in densely pop
ulated regions, and that Peru. in
spite Of Its sparse population, has
the characteristics of densely popu-
lated territory, owing to the fact
that its Inhabitants live crowded In
the narrow Andine valleys.
With the elimination Of yellow
fevor from Peru and Ecuador. the
only places where the fever still
thrives is in Mexico, Salvador. on
the Brazilian coast, and the west
coast of Africa. The campaign
against the disease in Mexico and
Salvador 10 being carried on by the
Rockefeller foundation; the Bra
lillian government has Q we'll ad-
ministered antiyellow fever organ
ization. and the British. French. and
Belgian governments have drawn
up plans for the SUPPRESSION OF yell
low fevor on the west coast OF
Africa.
Continue Campaign . Year.
DR.. White stated that the Rookie
Teller foundation will continue it's
work against the fever both in
as precautionary measure, but
that the organization will be dis
persed at the end OF that time with
the promise that neither country
will be afflicted again by yellow
fever. 1t Is believed that the
plague cannot be reintroduced into
these countries from Mexico or
Central America, as the germ de-
tvelops within seven days after q
patient Is inoculated, so that the
disease would be detected and
quarantine imposed before the
patient reached Ecuador or Peru.
DR.. White, who 10 supervising this
work for the Rockefeller founda-
ton. has had q long career Of yell
low fever campaigning. including
the wiping out Of the 1905 Epidemic
In New Orleans. He disintected San
Francisco after the plague Of 1900
and eliminated the 1918 epidemic In
Guatemala In Ave weeks, thus pre-
venting IL reaching the contonments
OF 100000 troops throughout the
infectibls Southern States.
(OoUvfRht ik4f