Evening star., 1932-07-14
PLANES EXAMINED
FOR MOSQUITOES
Health Service Checking on
Carrying of Yellow Fever
Into Country.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
It is getting hard for a mosquito to
sneak into the United States these
days without the United States Public
Health Service knowing about it.
Mosquitoes hitch-hiking to this coun-
try by airplane from South and Gen.
trail America are being viewed with
suspicion by the Public Health Service
because there is possibility that some
of them might bring in yellow fever,
a disease that was stamped out in
the United States 27 years ago.
So now. to learn how great IS the
danger of yellow fever invasion. the
Public Health Service is stopping every
mosquito at the border-at least those
that arrive by airplane. That moSqui-
toes can and occasionally do arrive in
airplanes already has been established.
"Stowaway" Examined.
The immigrant mosquitoes are exam
ined, not so much to see II they are
carrying yellow fever. but to discover
what proportion of those that stow
away" on airplanes at Central and
South American ports actually reaches
the United States.
The mosquitoes that now occasionally
arrive by air are not bringing yellow
fever, but some Of them are of the
type that could bring it if they chould
bite a sufferer from the disease before
boarding the planes.
To make the check-up fooiproof, the
mosquitoes are being aided and abetted
in their hitch-hiking for the time being,
by a process that resembles the tagging
of birds to learn how far they migrate.
A Public Health Service representa-
tive, visiting various airports In Cen
trail and South America, catches mos
quitoes, tags them with stain that
won't rub off, and places them on
board airplanes leaving for the United
States. In this country the arriving
planes are searched to see how many
"stowaways" are still on board.
II 1t Is found that many mosquitoes
are able to survive an airplane ride
to the United States, the Public Health
Service will plan measures to prevent
them from boarding planes and to
fumigate planes on arrival in this
country.
Menace in Air Travel.
Yellow fever now is believed to exist
in the Americas only at scattered points
in several South American countries.
Should it spread, however, the menece
to the United States would be greater
than formerly because airplane COM
munication has brought these countries
so much nearer.
Outlining the possibility Of yellow
fever invasion by airplane in a report
to the State and provincial health au-
thoritieS of North America. DR.. Bolivar
J. Lloyd of the Public Health Service
pointed out that Southern United States
ports are only two to four days dis
tant from South American ports by
airplane, and only a few hours from
Central American cities by the air
route. Should there be an outbreak in
these localities, he said. the United
States would be within easy striking
distance" of the disease.
Nor is this all" he explained.
There IS in Western Africa a vast
area in which there are many endemic
centers of yellow fever. besides many
other places where epidemic outbreaks
occur from time to time. Should this
disease continue its progress in an
easterly direction, across the African
continent, and then be transported by
airplane and implanted into India and
China. as seems quite within bounds
of possibility, even probability. our goal
of complete determination of yellow
fever would appear almost unattainable
Indeed, it looks long way of, even in
the Americas, right now