550 
THOMPSON YATES LABORATORIES REPORT 
hospital (Sao Sebastian) was opened on February 14, 1900 ; from this date to the 
end of the year no less than five hundred and eighty-five patients were admitted. Of 
these one hundred and seventy-three died ; but it is noted 1 that many of the deaths 
were due to other causes than variola (e.g., ' malaria, beriberi and cardiac, and renal 
complications '), and during our stay we came to learn that one of the devoted nursing 
sisters at this hospital succumbed to an attack of yellow fever. Varicella apparently 
also occurs. 
Measles (' sarampo ') is not uncommon, and epidemics occasionally occur ; during 
our stay we saw a few cases. Pertussis is also not uncommon. Ordinary and severe 
' colds 1 in the ' head ' are frequent. 
Beriberi occurs, but is not very common ; a few cases were seen. 
Yellow Fever (' Febre amarella ') was introduced into Para 2 from Pernambuco 
by means of the vessels ' Pollux,' which arrived from the fever-stricken port on 
January 24, 1850, and the c Pernambucana,' which arrived from the same port a few 
days later. Two sailors of the former died on the last day of the month, and on the 
next day three sailors from the latter died ; no further deaths are recorded during 
February which is of interest ; in March there were forty-one, and April two hundred 
and sixty-nine. During the year three-quarters of the population were attacked, 
which suggests that fatal epidemics in previous years were due to other causes, as 
variola, etc. Thus a total of twelve thousand persons out of the total population, 
estimated at sixteen thousand ; the deaths ascribed to the yellow fever were five 
hundred and six from January to July, deaths due to other causes being three hundred 
and four ; altogether corresponding to an annual rate of one hundred and one per 
thousand. Persumably the deaths due to yellow fever were more numerous than 
was admitted, owing to concealment, so as to obtain interment in churches (of which 
there were one hundred and eleven during the period) and consecrated ground. 
Soure and other places in the neighbourhood apparently were infected very soon, 
but no doubt from the slight amount of commerce up the Amazon the disease was 
not carried along this waterway till a much later date. Manaos was severely stricken 
during recent years, chiefly, no doubt, through the importation of numbers of 
non-immune labourers. From accounts it appears that the infection has been spread 
up as far as Iquitos, two thousand miles or so up the river. 
Apparently the fever has remained to stay in Para ever since. The local boast 
that this and other bad illnesses are imported and not national is not a sufficient 
excuse for not stamping it out. 
There are some indications of the prevalence of the fever in the city during 
recent months by the entries of patients and the death roll at the isolation hospital, 
I. Para Medico, I, p. 21 
2. A. Vienna, Para Medico, I, p. 35. 
