70 N. J. Mosquito Extermination Association 



a determined opposition to evidence of sanitary neglect, even 

 though there may be no necessary connection with pestilence or 

 death. For these and many other reasons efforts at quinine im- 

 munization rest upon a mistaken concept in a country like this 

 where sufficient wealth is available to secure results in other direc- 

 tions as well and at the same time. Such methods as have been 

 followed by the mosquito commissions of the several counties 

 of New Jersey are applicable in a large measure to the communi- 

 ties of the Mississippi Delta which continue to be seriously 

 afflicted by both mosquitoes and malaria. 



Last but not least w^e may properly take into account the risk 

 of a possible reintroduction of malaria into localities now free 

 therefrom through troops returning from southern, and all more 

 or less infected, cantonments. There is no question of doubt in 

 the minds of those familiar with the facts that thousands and 

 tens of thousands of parasite carriers will return to the North 

 and go to France, where Anopheles mosquitoes prevail, and if 

 reinfected reintroduce malaria, possibly to the extent of a serious 

 menace to the military force, rightfully entitled to adequate pro- 

 tection against this most insidious foe to military efficiency. It 

 may be, and perhaps is, a difficult task to examine the blood of 

 these men, but where so much is being done to protect the troops 

 against dangers and diseases of all kinds it would seem but a 

 wise precaution to ascertain all parasite carriers and to immunize 

 them completely before they are permitted to sail or return home. 

 Attention may be directed to what has been done by the Aus- 

 tralian Government, and with remarkable foresight, to preclude 

 even the chance of the introduction of malaria into sections of 

 Australia now free therefrom and set aside for future settle- 

 ment. Trained entomologists have been employed and blood 

 tests are being made so that at least the facts of a menacing situa- 

 tion are thoroughly understood and under reasonable control. 

 The experience which has thus far been had on the Western 

 Front and in Macedonia conclusively proves that the risk of the 

 reintroduction of malaria is by no means a matter of mere scien- 

 tific conjecture, but a real danger to the troops and the population 

 at large in the war area. The French Government has appointed 



