REDUCING MALARIA BY REDUCING THE NUMBER 

 OF ANOPHELES WITHIN BUILDINGS. 



By James Zetek, 

 Entomologist, Rep. of Panama. 



Malaria may be entirely eliminated and in time become an 

 unknown disease. But to achieve this desired end soon, calls 

 for unprecedented co-operation extended over a very large 

 territory, and it would require vigorous anti-malarial work for 

 many years. The cost of such work will be very heavy, how- 

 ever, an investment as great, if not greater, than the Panama 

 Canal. The lives and. time saved by such eradication, and the 

 increase in energy and longevity which would follow, expressed 

 in dollars and health, would soon repay with interest all that had 

 been spent. A campaign such as this could, with very little 

 additional cost, ehminate a few of the other insect-born tropical 

 diseases. 



The purpose of this paper is to show how in a given camp 

 malaria may be greatly reduced by the reduction in numbers of 

 the A nopheles which gain entrance into buildings. By A nopheles 

 I mean those species only which are known to or are supposed 

 to transmit malaria. It is essential, therefore, to become 

 acquainted with the mosquito fauna of a given region and learn 

 which members of it are pathogenic. The observations recorded 

 herein were made at MiraFlores construction Camp, Canal 

 Zone, at which point are the last two flights of locks to the Pacific 

 entrance. The buildings of this camp are of similar size and 

 shape, located in straight, parallel rows. This uniformity in 

 design and position made the interpretation of our data easy. 

 The following sketch aims to give all the essential data regarding 

 MiraFlores camp. All doors are indicated excepting such as 

 lead only to screened-in porches. The symbols used signify: 

 W-I — West Indian negro; S — Spaniard and other European; 

 C — Columbian and Panamanian ; E-I — East Indian (Hindoo) ; 

 W — white American. Unmarked buildings are offices, stores, 

 schools, hotel, police station, etc. Dots represent position and 

 number of insect traps affixed to the buildings. All doors,, 

 windows, etc., are well screened with 18-mesh copper wire 

 screen, and cracks and holes in floors are stopped-up as well as 



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