YELLOW FEVER OUTBREAK OF 1905 253 
“2. The measure taken to prevent the reproduction of the Stegomyia fasciata 
or other mosquitoes by oiling all water containers and deposits of stagnant water 
were completely successful. 
“3. It was demonstrated that to control an epidemic of yellow fever which has 
gained considerable headway (and such is the condition usually met with) it is 
necessary to have absolute power to enforce sanitary measures until such time 
as the people are educated up to the importance of such measures. 
“4, Inasmuch as the Stegomyia fasciata can only become infected by biting 
the patient during the first three days of the disease it is of vital importance 
that cases of fever be reported at the earliest possible moment so that they may 
be screened and the mosquito prevented from biting them. Such being the case, 
an efficient system of inspection is necessary, especially where there is a tendency 
to hide cases. 
“5. It is impossible to obtain good results without a mosquito-proof yellow- 
fever hospital. 
“6. The difficulties of handling an epidemic are increased when such outbreak 
occurs on the frontier. Arrangements should, therefore, be entered into by 
treaty with contiguous foreign countries, so that under such circumstances 
sanitary measures may be carried out jointly by the countries interested for 
mutual protection. 
“, Insistent and continued efforts should be made through the public press 
and other available means, to educate the people within the sphere of influence 
of the Stegomyia fasciata, so that they will learn to protect themselves against 
the invasion or possible spread of yellow fever in their midst by destroying the 
means for the propagation of said mosquito, and by protecting themselves 
against the mosquito by efficient screening. 
“ Above all, to eradicate the existing fear in the medical profession, as well as 
among the laity, of declaring the existence of yellow fever. If the first case pre- 
senting the slightest suspicious symptoms of that disease were promptly made 
public and the proper modern precautions taken there would be no danger of the 
disease spreading. In fact, the public should be taught to acknowledge the ex- 
istence of yellow fever in their midst with the same equanimity as in the case 
of measles or scarlatina.” 
The last of Guiteras’s conclusions was an exceptionally important one. All 
through southern Texas that year the existence of yellow fever was systematically 
hushed up, and it must be said, to the shame of the medical profession, that 
members of that profession were concerned in the blinding of the public eye to 
the existence of the disease. 
An interesting fact concerning the Laredo outbreak is that at Fort McIntosh, 
with a command of 111 officers and men, there were only five cases of yellow 
fever, while in the town beside them over one thousand cases occurred. The 
force was protected by leather helmets and leggings and mosquito head-nets, and 
it was found that the five men who became infected had violated orders by visit- 
ing the town without this protection. 
THE NEW ORLEANS EPIDEMIC OF 1905. 
In 1905 occurred the first opportunity (and let us hope it will be the last) to 
demonstrate in the United States on a large scale the efficacy of anti-mosquito 
work in the face of an epidemic of yellow fever. The disease was recognized and 
acknowledged at a sufficiently early date to permit of much more satisfactory 
