Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 146, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1920 — DISEASE CARRIED BY INSECTS [ARTICLE]

DISEASE CARRIED BY INSECTS

Small Creatures Not Only Offensive, but Constitute a Positive Menace to Health. The role of insects in the transmission of diseases is becoming more prominent each year, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. The fly, the mosquito, the flea and the “cootie” have come to represent not merely offensive nuisances to man, but also positive menaces to his health. The habits of these insects have therefore become of interest to the medical investigator and the sanitary expert no less than to the entomologist. It has been definitely determined that the last named of these disease carriers is sensitive to temperatures that approach the body temperature of man. Owing to the high temperature of the body in summer, they wander out on ordinary garments. For the same reason they wander away from persons in fever. It is recorded that persons leaving a temperate climate for the tropics may become freed from these pests. It has also been found that black clothing may repel them, for the reason that/ it absorbs more heat rays than lighter colors. Perspiration, induced by warm clothing will also hasten the exodus, stoop the “cootie” does not tolerate excessive moisture.