Evening star., 1938-04-11
YELLOW FEVER'S
DANGER IS CITED
T0HEAL TIL AIDES
Setting Up of Laboratory
Off Coast of Florida Is
Suggested.
SOUTH AMERICA SEEN
MENACED BY DISEASE
Keeping Coast Line Free of Dread
Mosquito Is Described as
Only Safeguard.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
A slender ribbon of mosquito-free
territory along the South American
coastline may be holding back a new
tide of yellow fever which in the past
has caused some of the most terrible
epidemics in American history, State
and provincial public health officers
meeting here Today were warned.
The danger is considered so real that
suggestions have been made, it was
learned, to establish a yellow-fever
laboratory on one of the Dry Tortugas
of the southern coast of Florida where
experiments on transmission of the
virus among animals can be made
1t also was proposed this morning
that national diagnostic center be
set up somewhere in the Southern
States from which mice could be
shipped to the bedside of any sus-
pected yellow-fever patient IN order to
make an accurate diagnosis immedi-
ately.
Jungle Yellow Fever.
The new menace is jungle yellow
fever which exists in the interior of
South America over an area two
thirds the size of the United States
and which appears to be spreading
southwark until it has now reached
the southern limits of Paraguay with
in striking distance of Buenos Aires
and other Argentine shipping centers.
Yellow fever in the past has been
considered almost strictly a disease
Of towns and the experiments of Wal
ter Reed and his associates in 1893
established that it was spread only
by one variety of mosquito which was
found chiefly in urban neighborhoods.
BY the elimination of this particular
mosquito over a greater part of South
America and East Africa, the great
yellow fever centers, the disease was
believed conquered.
The new yellow fever is still some
what of mystery. 1t first appeared
in a few South American towns a
few years ago, chiefly among newly
married men. Investigation showed
that these invariably had been out in
the jungle just before their weddings,
gathering materials for their new
homes. Tests during the last two
years, it was revealed today, have
shown that all over the interior,
where there are none Of the variety
Of mosquitoes hitherto blamed for the
epidemics, evidences Of the disease are
widespread among the wild animals,
especially the monkeys.
Fierce Biting Mosquito.
A very fierce biting mosquito which
is found only in the jungles is sus-
pected of transmitting it. But, tests
have established, it also can be trans
mitted by the old aedes egyptae, the
yellow fever mosquito known in the
past. Thus there is constant posi-
bility that jungle yellow fever will be-
come urban yellow fever at any time
The only safeguard is keeping the
South American coast line free of this
type of mosquito This has been done
quite efficiently in the past. Un-
fortunately, it was explained, the
aedes egytae is abundant all over the
Southern United States and it actually
lives through the winter on the south
ern tip of Florida.
The great interior region OF North
ern and Central South America has
now taken the place of the American
West of half century ago as q res
ervoir for European immigration. APP
proximately 100000 immigrants a
year are pouring into the area. They
can leave their staked out claims and
be in Cuba or even the United State
IN four days, before the yellow fever
symptoms have a chance to develop.
and with night flying in prospect this
will be cut down to two days. Thus
the danger is greatly increased. Ships
are no longer a menace since rigid
control of water supplies render i'm
possible the breeding of mosquitoes on
shipboard, and an infested person is
bound to develop symptoms before a
ship from South America reaches an
American port.
Danger Stressed in Report.
The danger was stressed in a report
by Dr. Earl B. Mckinley, dean of
George Washington Medical School, in
a map showing the present ravages of
dengue fever in the Southern United
States In 1922 there was an epidemic
in which several millions were sick
Of dengue. The death rate from this
fever is low but it is transmitted by
the identical mosquito which trans
mits yellow fever and the dengue map
might we'll turn overnight into yel-
low fever map, except for the terror
which would come with the first ap-
pearance of the dread disease and
the extraordinary precautions which
would be taken.
One great safeguard, DR.. w. A. Saw
yer of the Rockefeller Foundation told
the health officers, was the successful
production of yellow fever vaccine
by his organization with which 10000
persons in South America have been
vaccinated within the last year. Vac
cinations sometimes proceed at the
rate of 10000 week. Ninety EIGHT
per cent of those vaccinated become
immune. With sufficient supply of
the vaccine wholesale vaccinations
could be carried out in the Southern
States as soon as yellow fever struck.