60 MOSQUITO ERADICATION 



POST-WAR MOSQUITO CONTROL 



The brilliant results obtained through the war anti-mosquito 

 work of the U. S. Public Health Service acted as a great stimulus 

 to further efforts in this direction throughout the South. Many 

 of the towns in which these campaigns were conducted during 

 the war have continued the work ever since. 



In addition to these and other towns, which conducted their 

 own work independently, and to the work conducted in many 

 towns along its lines by the St. Louis & Southwestern Railroad, 

 more than 40 towns and cities throughout the South initiated 

 campaigns in 1920 under a co-operative plan which included the 

 State Health Departments, the International Health Board 

 and the Public Health Service. This number was considerably 

 increased in 1921. 



Approximately $280,000 was expended by various communities 

 in anti-mosquito work between July 1, 1919, and June 30, 1920, 

 according to reports received by the Public Health Service. 

 These reports were by no means complete, as they included only 

 those communities which were known to have been directly 

 influenced in carrying on anti-mosquito work by the activities 

 of the Service. They did not include many communities 

 indirectly persuaded of the importance of the work through 

 Service demonstrations nor thousands of individuals awakened to 

 the value of protecting themselves from mosquitoes and informed 

 as to practical methods of doing so. 



THE SITUATION TODAY 



The following statement, bearing upon the value of anti- 

 malaria campaigns, their progress and the recent notable change 

 in public appreciation thereof, by LePrince, 1 who has had direct 

 supervision of such activities of the Public Health Service since 

 they were first undertaken, is believed to be an accurate review 

 of prevailing sentiment along anti-mosquito lines in the United 

 States today: 



"Malaria fevers cause an annual loss of efficiency each year in our 

 country that is appalling, and the communities that suffer lack interest 

 in public welfare. In many villages and towns, from 10 to 40 per cent 

 of the inhabitants are infected. Where such conditions obtain, the 

 community cannot and does not progress or develop normally. 



1 Annual Report, U. S. Public Health Service, 1920. 



