Enough of You, Anopheles!

Images: Top: Stegomyia fasciata the “Yellow fever” mosquito
Today it is called Aedes aegypti
Middle: Anopheles the “Malaria” mosquito
Thanks to www.wikipedia.com
Bottom: A 1905 fumigation truck spraying ditches
www.canalmuseum.com

By August of 1905 yellow fever had reached epidemic proportions and black workers “were the hardest hit.” In fact, malaria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and intestinal diseases, all running rampant amongst the laborers, had spread fear and panic both in Panama as well as in Europe and the United States. Although these plagues killed and debilitated by far even more human beings, yellow fever was in the public eye.

Many countries in Europe by now had prohibited any recruitment of their citizens for work on the Panama Canal. In addition, several cases of Bubonic Plague were reported and those were concentrated within the Barbadians. Something had to be done and done quickly if the entire canal construction project were to be rescued from absolute failure.

Dr. William C. Gorgas, the U.S. Army’s Tropical Disease Chief and a physician by profession, was by now convinced of the “mosquito theory.” Although it was persistently rejected by many Commission officials and canal administrators, Gorgas had successfully eradicated yellow fever in Havana, Cuba supported by the findings of brilliant specialists in the field. Dr. Carlos Juan Finlay, a Cuban physician and tireless researcher into the causes of yellow fever had isolated the main cause of the disease- the Stegomyia fasciata variety of mosquito. Dr. Ronald Ross, another equally brilliant and tireless English researcher and physician had been technically credited with discovering the cause of malaria- the genera Anopheles, and on his very brief visit to Panama he commented to Gorgas, “Panama…could be made an example for the entire world.”

Armed with the knowledge that the eradication of the Anopheles mosquito, and not simply the scrupulous clean up of the terminal cities of Panama and Colon and the canal construction areas, was the course to take, Gorgas became focused on putting an end to the epidemics that were crippling the progress of the great engineering project. All he needed, finally, was support – support he received from the new chief construction engineer- John Stevens.

The eradication program in Havana had taken 8 months. At Panama, however, it would take 1½ years to bring things under control, and primarily thanks to the support of John Stevens. Gorgas embarked upon a concentrated health campaign with yellow fever at the very head of his priorities. While placing construction issues on a back burner for the time being, he, with the blessing of Stevens, destined an initial targeted budget for everything he needed for the campaign. Amongst his immediate requisitions (and only the beginning) he ordered:

$90,000 Mosquito netting
120 tons of pyrethrum powder per month
300 tons of sulfur per month
300 tons of sulfur
50,000 gallons kerosene per month (for fumigation tanks)
3,000 garbage cans, 4,000 buckets, 1,000 brooms, 500 scrub brushes
Large supplies of carbolic acid, sulfur powder, wood alcohol, mercurial chloride, “common soap,” padlocks, lanterns, machetes, lawn mowers, 1200 fumigation pots or tanks (to be carried on the backs of laborers) and some 240 rat traps for the hospital alone.

A vigorous fumigation campaign was carried out in both Colon and Panama in a “house by house” effort with some high risk areas being re-fumigated several times. The fumigation brigades were thorough to say the least and they were comprised of human beings with fumigation tanks tied to their backs as well as fumigation trucks. By December of 1906, the epidemic was officially declared eradicated.

The nature of both yellow fever and malaria, however, would involve constant monitoring by health officials. Since both varieties of mosquito, Stegomyia fasciata and Anopheles, are creatures that thrive around human society and especially favor still water (stagnant water) of any kind, the human environment around the terminal cities and the “Digs” would require continued vigilance.

This story continues.