YELLOW FEVER 223 
Also, we have not encountered in Africa any cases of splenomegaly which we 
could demonstrate were of mycotic origin during life. 
In one hyena of the eastern Belgian Congo which was shot at night and upon 
which it was not practicable to perform the necropsy until the following morning, 
stained film preparations and sections both showed a mycotic infection of the 
spleen (No. 169), both the spores and short mycelial threads being easily detected 
in different parts of the spleen. In another instance of an elephant, shot at about 
sunset, it was also not practicable to perform the necropsy until the following 
morning. In the study of the sections of the intestine and spleen of this animal 
made after our return to this country, there was also found to be an infection of 
the tissues by a fungus. In the intestine the fungus was apparently present 
before death and subsequently invaded the intestinal coats and spleen. It is 
presumed that in both these instances, the invasion of the fungus was post- 
mortem because there is no cellular reaction in the tissues about the fungi. The 
opportunities for postmortem and secondary invasion of various lesions in 
Africa by fungi, should not be lost sight of. It seems possible that under some 
conditions, postmortem infection of a human spleen with fungi might also occur. 
We have already referred (page 221) to the care that should be exercised in pre- 
paring cultures with reference to the demonstration of mycotic infection. 
YELLOW FEVER 
The situation with reference to the occurrence of yellow fever in Liberia is of 
interest. Shortly before our visit to Monrovia, Dr. G. Bouet had reported upon 
the recent occurrences of six cases of this disease, two of which were fatal.} 
Dr. Bouet had previously had knowledge regarding yellow fever in earlier years 
and from his description of the symptoms of the two fatal cases in which black 
vomit and albuminuria were present, the diagnosis of yellow fever would appear 
to be consistent. No cases of yellow fever occurred while we were in the country, 
and no cases were found by Dr. A. W. Sellards of our Department of Tropical 
Medicine who went to Monrovia to investigate the yellow fever situation the 
year after our return. 
However, in February of the present year (1929), according to the statistics 
of the Health Section of the League of Nations and information furnished us 
through the courtesy of Mr. Harvey S. Firestone, Jr., there were, in Monrovia, 
two cases of yellow fever on February 26; one case on March 5; three cases on 
April 3; three cases on April 9; and two cases about June 30. These are appar- 
ently the only cases of yellow fever that have been reported in West Africa dur- 
ing the present year. According to the information we have received, six of 
these Liberian cases were fatal; the last two fatalities were in American citi- 
zens, — Mr. James L. Sibley and the American Minister, Mr. Francis. It is 
unfortunate that no necropsies were performed upon the fatal cases. 
The origin of these sporadic cases of yellow fever in Monrovia is somewhat 
obscure. There is little or no justification for supposing that the infection on all 
these different occasions has been imported. Perhaps the infection is kept alive 
1 Bouet: Bull. Soc. Path. Exot. (1925), XVIII, 746. 
