4; sheets, 6; blankets, 5; pillows, 2; mattresses, 1. These articles had been removed from the persons and beds of four patients sick with yellow fever and were very much soiled, as any change of clothing or bed-linen during their attacks had been purposely avoided, the object being to obtain articles as thoroughly contaminated as possible.
From Dec. 21, 1900, till Jan. 10, 1901, this building was again occupied by two non-immune young Americans, under the same conditions as the preceding occupants, except that these men slept every night in the very garments worn by yellow fever patients throughout their entire attacks, besides making use exclusively of their much-soiled pillow-slips, sheets, and blankets. At the end of twenty-one nights of such intimate contact with these fomites, they also went into quarantine, from which they were released five days later in perfect health.
From January 11 till January 31, a period of twenty days, 'Building No. 1' continued to be occupied by two other non-immune Americans, who, like those who preceded them, have slept every night in the beds formerly occupied by yellow fever patients and in the night-shirts used by these patients throughout the attack, without change. In addition, during the last fourteen nights of their occupancy of this house they have slept, each night, with their pillows covered with towels that had been thoroughly soiled with the blood drawn from both the general and capillary circulation, on the first day of the disease, in the case of a well-marked attack of yellow fever. Notwithstanding this trying ordeal, these men have continued to remain in perfect health.
The attempt which we have therefore made to infect 'Building No. 1,' and its seven non-immune occupants, during a period of sixty-three days, has proved an absolute failure. We think we cannot do better here than to quote from the classic work of La Roche.[1] This author says: "In relation to the yellow fever, we find so many instances establishing the fact of the non-transmissibility of the disease through the agency of articles of the kind mentioned, and of merchandise generally, that we cannot but discredit the accounts of a contrary character assigned in medical writings, and still more to those presented on the strength of popular report solely. For if, in a large number of well-authenticated cases, such articles have been handled and used with perfect impunity—and that, too, often under circumstances best calculated to insure the effect in question—we have every reason to conclude that a contrary result will not be obtained in other instances of a similar kind; and that consequently the effect said to have been produced by exposure to those articles, must—unless established beyond the possibility of doubt—be referred to some other agency."
The question here naturally arises: How does a house become infected with yellow fever? This we have attempted to solve by the erection at Camp Lazear of a second house, known as 'Building No. 2,' or the 'Infected Mosquito Building.' This was in all respects similar to 'Building No. 1,' except that the door and windows were placed on opposite sides of the building so as to give through-and through ventilation. It was divided, also, by a wire-screen partition, extending from floor to ceiling, into two rooms, 12 x 14 feet and 8 x 14 feet respectively. Whereas, all articles admitted to 'Building No. 1' had been soiled by contact with yellow fever patients, all articles admitted to 'Building No. 2' were first carefully disinfected by steam before being placed therein.
On Dec. 21, 1900, at 11.45 a. m., there were set free in the larger room of this building fifteen mosquitoes—C. fasciatus—which had previously been contaminated by biting yellow fever patients, as follows: 1, a severe case, on the second day, Nov. 27, 1900, twenty-four days; 3, a well-marked case, on the first- ↑ R. La Roche: Yellow Fever, Vol. II, p. 516, Philadelphia.
