Mosquitos and malaria : a study of our knowledge on the subject at the beginning of the year 1900 with an account of the natural history of some mosquitos / by Cuthbert Christy.

  • Cuthbert Christy
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mosquitos and malaria : a study of our knowledge on the subject at the beginning of the year 1900 with an account of the natural history of some mosquitos / by Cuthbert Christy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A series of observations extending over at least one yoai, from several places in which malaria is prevalent, similar to those of Dr. Strachan’s, would be of the greatest interest, particularly if in conjunction with observations on the hatching out of Anopheles. It will be found that the height of the fever curve, that is, the time of year at which the greatest number ot primary in- fections occur, is different in different countries, and in fact in different places in the same country ; and it will be also found that these differences have a very close connection with the temperature, rainfall, &c. We know that the temperature* rainfall, &c., directly influences the hatching out of Anopheles, [ but it remains for us to prove that in all places the hatching out of Anopheles coincides with the fever curve. Soil. It has often been reported that the disturbance of sod has given rise to an out-break of malaria] fever, and it is a fact that, indirectly, the disturbance of soil, if on a large scale, may give rise to such an epidemic, particularly during the warm season. Dr. Manson says (Manual of Tropical Diseases):—The “ Medical History of Hong Kong may be cited as an illustra- “ tion. At the commencement of the occupation of this island by “ the British, for a short time, it was healthy enough. Then Ci on its cession being completed, and when barracks and c‘ houses were being built and roads laid out, it became excess- “ ively unhealthy, the soldiers dying by the-hundreds of u pernicious fevers. In time the sickness and mortality grad- “ ually decreased, and now, so far as malaria is concerned, the “ city of Victoria is healthy. But even at the present day u wherever in the outskirts, in the course of construction of “ houses, roads, forts, and similar works, soil is turned up, fever u often, of a most pernicious type, is nearly sure to break out among those engaged in the work/’