Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 59.djvu/250

240 ago. But, as a matter of fact, this parasite, which we now know is present in the blood of those sick with the disease, has thus far eluded all researches. Possibly it is ultra-microscopic. However this may be, it is not the only infectious disease germ which remains to be discovered. There is without doubt a living germ in vaccine lymph and in the virus from smallpox pustules, but it has not been demonstrated by the microscope. The same is true of foot and mouth disease and of infectious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle, although we know that a living element of some kind is present in the infectious material by which these diseases are propagated. In Texas fever, of cattle, which is transmitted by infected ticks, the parasite is very-minute, but by proper staining methods and a good microscope it may be detected in the interior of the red blood corpuscles. Drs. Reed and Carroll are at present engaged in a search for the yellow fever germ in the blood and in the bodies of infected mosquitoes. What success may attend their efforts remains to be seen, but at all events the fundamental facts have been demonstrated that this germ is present in the blood and that the disease is transmitted by a certain species of mosquito—C. fasciatus.

The proper measures of prophylaxis in view of this demonstration are given in the following circular, which was submitted for my approval by the Chief Surgeon, Department of Cuba, and has recently been published by the Commanding General of that Department, who, until quite recently, was a member of the Medical Corps of the Army:

Upon the recommendation of the Chief Surgeon of the Department, the following instructions are published and will be strictly enforced at all military posts in this Department:

The recent experiments made in Havana by the Medical Department of the Army having proved that yellow fever, like malarial fever, is conveyed chiefly, and probably exclusively, by the bite of infected mosquitoes, important changes in the measures used for the prevention and treatment of this disease have become necessary.

1. In order to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes and protect officers and men against their bites, the provisions of General Orders No. 6, Department of Cuba, December 21, 1900, shall be carefully carried out, especially during the summer and fall.

2. So far as yellow fever is concerned, infection of a room or building simply means that it contains infected mosquitoes, that is, mosquitoes which have fed on yellow-fever patients. Disinfection, therefore, means the employment of measures aimed at the destruction of these mosquitoes. The most effective of these measures is fumigation, either with sulphur, formaldehyde or insect powder. The fumes of sulphur are the quickest and most effective insecticide but are otherwise objectionable. Formaldehyde gas is quite effective if the infected rooms are kept closed and sealed for two or three hours. The smoke of insect powder has also been proved very useful; it readily stupefies mosquitoes, which drop to the floor and can then be easily destroyed.