YELLOW JACK

The mosquito-control crew, sprinkling oil over stagnant pools,
destroying rain-soaked barrels, tin cans and other containers, and setting
fire to brush heaps, presents a familiar picture in Florida communities.
The work seems so easy that a casual observer in Florida communities.
In its leisurely task, however, the crew is protecting each community
against "yellow jack," (yellow fever), a disease which, before 1900,
killed thousands of people and cost the State millions of dollars. In
Jacksonville alone an epidemic of yellow jack once resulted in more than
400 deaths and cost the populace at least $350,000. It put hundreds of
panic-stricken citizens to flight, paralyzed industry and trade, and the
city became known as a plague spot to be shunned by the rest of the
world. Although the scourge lasted only a few months, its disastrous
effects remained for years. (1)

Yellow fever is a disease that thrives in warm regions of the
world. The virus of the disease is transmitted by a species of mosquito
named Aedes aegypti. Frost lessens and often checks the disease. Hot
south winds will increase it, but cold north winds always destroy it.
Seldom does the ailment appear in areas removed from seacoasts or
navigable rivers, and it does not exist in high altitudes. Transported from
primitive regions, it spreads into urban areas, especially slum districts, but
the most intimate bodily contacts will not transmit it from one person to
another. (2)