OCR Text |
Show FIGHT YELLOW FEVER RECENT EXPERIMENTS THE CAUSE OF SEVERAL DEATHS, Including That of Miss Alaas. the Nnrse The Successful "Work of Dr. Reed and the Bad Keaults from the Serum Cause of the Fever a Mystery. The death in Havana Sunday of ; the persons bitten by infected mosquitoes mosqui-toes that had been kept twelve days or more after biting yellow fever patients pa-tients were taken with the disease, and the yellow fever diagnosis was confirmed con-firmed by resident physicians in Havana Ha-vana who were above all others familiar famil-iar with the disease in every form. Persons bitten by mosquitoes at an earlier period than twelve days after they had bitten a yellow fever patient did not contract the disease. In another an-other series of experiments, of seven persons bitten by infected mosquitoes by placing the hand in a jar containing contain-ing the insects, five or 71 per cent contracted con-tracted the disease. The direct agency of mosquitoes In spreading the disease having been established, es-tablished, practical anti-mosquito work was at once undertaken in Cuba. General orders were issueed requiring the universal use of mosqulto-bars in all barracks, especially in hospitals, as well as in field service where practicable. practica-ble. The drainage of breeding-places, the use of petroleum on standing water, wa-ter, in which mosquitoes breed, was directed, and the medical department of the army furnished oil for this pur- jiiss Clara A. JHaas, a trainea nurse from Newark, N. J., who was following follow-ing her profession at Las Animas Hospital, Hos-pital, was the third resulting from the experiments being made with mosquitoes mos-quitoes by the yellow fever commission. commis-sion. The sacrifice of this young life in the cause of science Miss Maas was 25 years old directs attention to the work which has been done in Cuba toward the stamping out of the disease dis-ease that formerly claimed so many lives. In this investigation in the cause of science there has been a remarkably re-markably display of heroism. The work has been carried on by the yellow fever commission, of which Dr. Walter Reed is nrpsirlpnt pose. It has resulted that Havana had less yellow fever during the present year than at any time in its history. The Serum Ptot Successful. The efforts of Dr. Reed have been supplemented by experiments, under government authorization, in which well persons have been subjected to tests which in several cases have proven fatal. In July a Cuban boy was taken to Havana and after eleven The Cause of Vellow Fever has always been a mystery; and, indeed, in-deed, it is a mystery today in a measure, meas-ure, since, although undoubtedly a disease dis-ease of parasitic origin, the parasitic organism itself has not yet been discovered. dis-covered. Several times it has been that that it was found, and there are those investigators who today believe that the Bacillus iceroides of Sanarelli io fho rancatitu ni-nnicm r.f tho fever' while the English physician. Dr. Herbert Her-bert E. Durham, who, with the late Dr. WTaIter Myers, was sent out by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to BraziL believes that in a small' bacillus ba-cillus which they have frequently found In autopsies they have discovered the true germ. The proof brought by the American experiments that certain mosquitoes will transmit the disease, hungry mosquitoes had been put In a cage his arm was placed therein and ti.e insects permitted to suck blood from it. The parasites were given a chance to develop and, when it was believed that they were ready for action, ac-tion, nine persons, at various intervals, were bitten by them after having been inoculated with a serum said to render a person proof against the fever. Of these, three persons have died and the others are lingering between be-tween life and death, except one, wliose recovery seems probable. While the investigation has proved of some benefit, In that it has disclosed the source of the fever, the immunity serum has not established itself In public favor. I MISS CLARA A. MAAS. Who yielded up her life in the cause of medical science. however, renders both of these claims uncertain and probably incorrect. In fact, Dr. Reed denies that Sanarelli's bacillus has anything to do with yellow yel-low fever. The true parasite will be be discovered, without doubt, and it is to be hoped that the American army officers who have been responsible for such an extraordinary advance in our knowledge of the etiology of the dread disease may be the investigators to carry the work through to its fullest conclusions. The Experiments. During the autumn of 1900 an experimental expe-rimental sanitary station was established estab-lished in the open, a mile from Que-mados. Que-mados. Two houses were built, tightly constructed, with windows and doors protected by wire screens. In one of these houses, soiled sheets, pillowcases, pillow-cases, and blankets were used as bedding, bed-ding, and this bedding was brought straight from the beds of patients sick with yellow fever at Havana. For 63 days these beds were occupied by members of the hospital corps for periods pe-riods varying from 20 to 21 days. At the end of this occupation the men, who were all non-immunes, were taken ta-ken to quarantine for five days and then released. Not one of them was taken ill. All were released in excellent excel-lent health. This experiment Is of the greatest importance, es showing that the disease is not conveyed by fomites and hence the disinfection of clothing, cloth-ing, bedding, or merchandise supposed to have been contaminated by contact with yellow fever patients is no longer necessary, and the extremes to which this disinfection work has been carried car-ried in cases of yellow fever epidemics epidem-ics in our southern states have been perfectly useless. The "Infected Mosquito Bnllding." In the ether house, which was known as the "infected mosquito building," were no articles which had not been carefully disinfected. The house contained con-tained two rooms, and non-immunes were placed in both rooms. In one room, separated from the other by wire screen partitions only, mosquitoes which had bitten yellow fever patients were admitted. From the other room they were excluded. In the latter room the men remained in perfect health; to the mosquito room 50 per cent of |