SUMMARY CONCERNING THE CONTROL OF YAWS 



By Andrew Watson Sellards 

 Of the Bureau of Science, Manila 



Ernest W. Goodpastur] 

 Oft 



It is rather instructive to attempt to classify the important 

 diseases of man, especially those of infectious origin, into two 

 groups, one comprising the diseases that are eradicable or 

 controllable by artificial means, and the other those that are non- 

 eradicable. A disappointingly large number fall, at present, 

 into the latter class. There are two very distinct and equally 

 important groups of requirements for successful artificial con- 

 trol ; one comprises the psychological factors and the other the 

 scientific data. Operations based solely upon scientific data, 

 even though very precise and complete, are beset with great 

 difficulties and are foredoomed to partial failure. The informa- 

 tion concerning the life cycle of a given parasite may be com- 

 plete, and the measure for breaking this cycle may be very 

 simple; but these facts do not offset the disadvantage of extreme 

 indifference on the part of the infected individual. 



From a psychological standpoint the disease it is proposed 

 to eradicate must be instinctively very objectionable to the 

 patient. In addition to this, the effective measures for its con- 

 trol must be of a nature that will appeal to all of the people 

 concerned or, at the very least, be inoffensive to them. The 

 spontaneous and hearty cooperation of the population is an 

 invaluable asset. 



In commencing the education of a community in public-health 

 measures, much attention has been directed toward securing 

 immediate spectacular results for the initial work. There is 

 no disease which fulfills this condition so abundantly as yaws. 

 It is the one infectious disease of man in which the striking 

 benefit of therapy is just as evident to the casual onlooker as 

 to the patient himself. 



