Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 23, No. 3, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 1, 1913 Page: 3 of 16
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Oklahoma Farmer
Volume 23, Number :?
IUNE 1, 1913
Subscription 50c a Year
■ .
ANT I = MOSQUITO CRUSADE
THE TIME FOR ACTION
IN AN issue of Oklahoma Farmer last year, Jun
13, 1912, I presented an article, the subject of
which was The Deadly Fly, with the request that
you had "better join the swatters' brigade." It
was my intention to make a timely article of this
with an aim of preventing much unnecessary sick-
lies- and death during the summer. The dissemina-
tion of tuberculosis and typhoid fever was especially
emphasized.
In the present article I desire to especially call
your attention to the cause and method of dissemi-
nation of malaria fever.
With the typhoid fly and its allies, by day, and
the mosquito and its allies, by night, there is a coin-
bin it inn for general cussedness in tIn- way of tan-
talizing a human being and "getting his goat" that
is hard to beat.
LIFE HISTORY OF THE MOSQUITO.
There are several species of mosquitoes. The
method of development of each, however, is practi-
cally the same. They hibernate over winter in the
adult stage in cellars, wood piles, outhouses, etc.
The females deposit their eggs on the surface of
quiet water—any kind of water, no matter how pure
or how filthy. In case of the ordinary house mos-
quito of the genus Culex, eggs are deposited in the
early morning, before dawn, in tiny, sooty boat-like
ma-ses. each containing 200 to 400 (see Fig. 1).
When the weather is warm these eggs will hatch by
2 o'clock on the afternoon of the same day.
The ordinary rain barrel is a favorite developing
place for the house mosquitoes, and under ordinary
conditions' they will develop from the egg to the
adult form within 10 days, the length of develop-
mental stages being l(i hours for the egg, seven days
for the larva and two days for the pupa. (See
Fig. 2.) .
The development periods for other mosquitoes are
similar. In the genus Anopheles (the malaria fever
genus), however, the eggs (see Fig. 3) are deposited
sporadically on the surface of water in secluded
places, such as tin cans, cesspools, borders of ponds,
tracks of animals or pools of stagnant water. The
larvae also*differ in appearance to the Culex larvae,
as is shown in Fig. 4. Attention is a'so called to
the difference of appearance in the adult forms. The
Culex mosquito stands with its body almost parallel
to the plane upon which it is resting; the Anopheles
stands with* its body almost perpendicular to the
plane upon which it is resting. See Fig. 5 for a com-
mon type of Culex mosquito, and Fig. 0 for a type
of Anopheles.
At the season of the year when watermelons are
ripe, some persons subject to the attack of Anopheles
or malaria mosquitoes*often accuse the watermelon
of being the source of chills and fever. Some say,
■ "O, I like watermelons, but I must not oat them, be-
' cause they will give me chills and fever". Now, as
Let us Increase the Oklahoma Member-
ship in the "Fly Swatters' Brigade," and
Start an Anti-Mosquito Crusade
BY C. E. SANBORN
Entomologist Oklahoma A. and M. College
a matter of fact, the latter part of this statement is
absolutely wrong. It so happens that, chills and
fever often, and nearly always, do occur during
watermelon time, hut it is simply because the uia*
larial mosquitoes oc<*Ur at that time, and it is the
bites from these and not the bites from the water-
melons that ease the infection.
There are in the United States three species of
mosquitoes which are responsible for the dissemina-
tion of malaria, namely. Anopheles quadrimaculatus,
Anopheles crucians and Anopheles punetipennis. The
little germs that cause malaria ;<re technically known
as plasmodia. They are entirely too small to be
seen by au unaided eye, but multiply very rapidly
under favorable conditions. When one of the Ano-
pheles mosquitoes, which can carry malaria, teedii on
the blood of a person infected, these germs are taken
into the mosquito's stomach, where they undergo cer-
tain changes and also increase in numbers.
The germs pass through the walls of the mos-
quito's stomach, and attach themselves to its outer
walls, where they again reproduce in numrbers by pro-
ducing spores that find their way from the general
body cavity of the mosquito to the salivary glands,
from which they are ready to be injected into the
human skin.
The mosquito's mouth parts are long and peculiar-
ly arranged. As soon as they are brought into con-
tact with the human skin, the salivary glands se-
crete a fluid which at first deadens the pain made
by the piercing mouth parts, so that the mosquito
can become fairly well engorged with blood before
making its presence felt. This pain killing fluid,
which is also accompanied by the malaria germ, then
becomes very irritating in-nature.
# The person thus infected is generally bitten late
in the evening or during the night, and probably is
not aware of the source of the pain. The germs,
however, are scattered throughout the body by the
circulation. Each germ enters a blood corpuscle and
develops. When full grown it produces a number
of spores by division. These spores break through
the walls of the blood corpuscle into the plasma, and
from the plasma of the blood enter other corpuscles.
This breaking down of many corpuscles, happening
at the same time, as it generally does, causes the
"chill." The fever is said to probably be caused by
a little poison which escapes from each parasite with
the spores.
The parasites entering the corpuscles of the blood
produce more spores, so thai either in the course of
only a short time after infection a well pronounced
case .of "chill- and fever" may develop, or a drowsy,
stupid feeling will come over the patient on account
of an irregular development of the parasites; Or
there may be a double infection of parasites which
develop at different times, causing well defined at-
tacks ol fever at irregular intervals.
A person infected may temporarily improve and
feel well, perhaps, but when in some locality not
even infested by mosquitoes the germs may begin to
develop again and cause a combination of the ma-
laria.
The Anopheles mosquito after biting an infected
person will also become infected, and inoculate other
persons in that vicinity. Mosquitoes do not gener-
ally go t i r "from their breeding places. People, how-
ever. that are infacted with malaria sometimes travel
a great deal, thus dessiminating the disease to new
localities.
REMEDIES AND PREVENTION.
Of course, quinine is and has been used more ex-
tensively than any other medicine for the cure of
malaria. \\ hen taken into the blood at certain times
(when the germs are in the plasma) it lias a bad ef-
fect on the plasmodia, and if taken properly it will
gradually control the germs. Battling such a dis-
ease in such a manner at this day and age of sci-
ence, however, means only a swollen spleen on tho
part of the Anopheles infected persons, and «, swolleu
pocket on the part of the local physician and drug-
gist.
One of the peculiar dispositions today which per-
tains to the individual health is that persons too
often unknowingly and unwittingly seek the aid of
a medicine man instead of a garbage man, or com-
mon unskilled man who could cheaply remove the
cause, instead of allowing an effect to be continu-
ally removed at a high price.
All necessary ponds and pools of water that are
permanent should be stocked with fish. The latter
will destroy the mosquitoes in the wiggler stage. AU
unnecessary tin cans, tubs, barrels, etc., that may
hold water longer than 10 days should be eliminated.
All necessary rainwater barrels, exposed cisterns,
tanks or other reservoirs, should he screened so that
no mosquitoes can enter. Cesspools, ponds and caves,
containing water which caraiot be drained or screened
should he sprinkled or sprayed with oil so that a
thin film may remain continuously on the surface
throughout the summer. Such a film wil prevent
wigglers from breathing, and also prevent adults
from laying eggs in such places.
Let us increase the Oklahoma membership in the
"Fly Swatters' Brigade" and start an "Anti-Mos-
quito Crusade," and begin now. It will mean a great
deal of peace and happines to our domestic animals,
as well as ourselves, all of which means profit.
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Hartman, E. V. Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 23, No. 3, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 1, 1913, newspaper, June 1, 1913; Guthrie, Oklahoma and Topeka, Kansas. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc141190/m1/3/?q=%22Guthrie+%28Okla.%29+--+Newspapers.%22: accessed June 16, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.