Seventeen years ago (1947) the Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) entrusted the Pan American Sanitary Bureau (PASB) with the promotion and coordination of Aedes aegypti eradication in the Western Hemisphere.

The progress made and the problems now being faced have been outlined in two reports this year:

• 1.  The Eradication of Aedes aegypti in Latin America. J. A. Kerr. Presented at annual meeting of the American Mosquito Control Association, Chicago, 1964 (March); and,
• 2.  The Status of Aedes aegytpi Eradication in the Americas. PAHO/WHO-CD 15/20, July 9, 1964. (Proceedings XV Meeting, Directing Council of PAHO, Mexico City, August–September 1964.)

I have drawn freely on these documents in preparation of this paper; those directly interested in aegypti eradication should consult the originals.

It is important that public health officers responsible for the prevention of yellow fever and those responsible for the prevention of other communicable diseases know the sequence of events leading to the present situation.