44. SANITARY ENTOMOLOGY 



that disease and the insect conditions of that focus. The original health 

 conditions on the site may have a distinct bearing on later events. 



Often the first arrivals at the camp site are contractors with multi- 

 tudes of laborers and animals collected from everywhere, and from every 

 stratum of society. There are few hygienic arrangements for these men. 

 In fact, the contractors are aiming to obtain as large profits as possible, 

 and therefore hold down the expenses for sanitary waste disposal. Some 

 among these laborers are almost certain to bring lice, bedbugs, fleas, and 

 possibly also scabies mites, on their bodies and clothes. Thrown together 

 indiscriminately in hastily constructed barracks, there is soon a general 

 distribution of vermin. Their animals are quite likely to be infected with 

 scabies mites and possibly other mites, and with bots and ticks. The 

 undisciplined assembling of many animals and carelessness about manure 

 disposal offers great attractiveness to all flics and insects attracted by 

 animals. It is probable that many dogs accompany the laborers and 

 contribute their quota of fleas. It is almost impossible with crude, unedu- 

 cated laboring men to get them to maintain sanitary conditions. Indis- 

 criminate defecation, the scattering of garbage, the accumulation of 

 manure, personal uncleanliness, all contribute to make contractor camps 

 sanitary sore spots. ' 



Sooner or later the sanitarians arrive on the spot, very likely with 

 a squad or company of raw untrained labor troops, and the clean-up 

 begins. We can expect a constant lack of coordination between the 

 military and the civilian. As for example, at one camp the sanitary 

 officers had constructed drainage ditches to carry off' surplus standing 

 water, but the laborers persisted in throwing scraps of wood, underbrush 

 and waste into the ditches so that they were of no avail, or rather so that 

 they formed traps for water pools. 



During the transition period when the camp is part civilian and part 

 military there will be two very diff'erent types of conditions existing 

 side by side, one good, one bad. Of course the army sanitarians have 

 supervision over these civilian camps, but they find difficulty in enforcing 

 sanitation. 



When a camp is placed like Camp Humphreys, Virginia, on a tongue 

 of land between two shallow bays of water that are known to fill up with 

 vegetation, and which furnish breeding places for millions of mosquitoes, 

 and with typical swamp Jands at the heads of these bays, we may readily 

 see that the task of the sanitary officer is not an easy one. These bays 

 are moreover at tidal level and the daily fluctuations of the water add 

 complications to the drainage problem. Each individual camp, wherever 

 located, will present its own type of problems, and necessitates an early 

 and thorough entomological survey. 



The tremendous speed of construction and the rapid arrivals of fresh 



