Handbook of Medical EntomologyRiley, William A. (William Albert)
Science
Handbook of Medical Entomology
Riley, William A. (William Albert)
Insect pests; Insects as carriers of disease; Medical parasitology
Then the backbone of the fight must be the anti-mosquito measures. In
general, these involve screening and fumigating against adults, and
control of water supply, oiling, and drainage against the larvæ. The
region involved must be districted and a thorough survey undertaken to
locate breeding places, which must, if possible, be eradicated. If they
are necessary for water supplies, such as casks, or cisterns, they
should be carefully screened to prevent access of egg-laying adults.
The practical results of anti-mosquito measures in the fight against
yellow fever are well illustrated by the classic examples of the work in
Havana, immediately following the discoveries of the Army Commission and
by the stamping out of the New Orleans epidemic in 1905.
The opportunities for an immediate practical application of the theories
of the Army Commission in Havana were ideal. The city had always been a
hotbed of yellow fever and was the principal source from which the
disease was introduced year after year into our Southern States. It was
under martial law and with a military governor who was himself a
physician and thoroughly in sympathy with the views of the Commission,
the rigid enforcement of the necessary regulations was possible. The
story of the first campaign has been often told, but nowhere more
clearly than in Dr. Reed's own account, published in the _Journal of
Hygiene_ for 1902.
Closer home was the demonstration of the efficacy of these measures in
controlling the yellow fever outbreak in New Orleans in 1905. During the
spring and early summer of the year the disease had, unperceived, gained
a firm foothold in that city and when, in early July the local Board of
Health took cognizance of its existence, it was estimated that there had
been in the neighborhood of one hundred cases.
Conditions were not as favorable as they had been under martial law in
Havana for carrying on a rigid fight along anti-mosquito lines. The
densely populated city was unprepared, the public had to be educated,
and an efficient organization built up. The local authorities actively
began a general fight against the mosquito but in spite of their best
efforts the disease continued to spread. It was recognized that more
rigid organization was needed and on August 12th the United States
Public Health and Marine Hospital Service was put in absolute charge of
the fight. Up to this time there had been one hundred and forty-two
deaths from a total of nine hundred and thirteen cases and all of the
conditions seemed to threaten an outbreak to exceed the memorable one of
1878 when, as we have seen there were four thousand and forty-six
deaths.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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