The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-23
Inherit Dew Diseases.
Acquisition of Cuba Porto Rico and the Philippines Makes
New School Of Tropical Medicine Necessary
Johns Hopkins Will Establish Department
to Teach Ailments of Hot Climates

parasite is known, but il il a genera
statement that covers the field of re
search; one that needs thorough cover
ing when there is record that half o.
the inhabitants of Havana were onc'
attacked.
Beri-beri is another tropical disease
that needs investigation. The rledica
authorities have had long disputes over
the probable origin of the disease
Some say it is due to eating rice; 9TH
ers to the consumption of raw fish. II
Is prevalent in the far east. 1t is
found in China, India, Japan, Sumatra
Borneo, Java, Moluccas, and in Cuba.
Vessels carried it to Cuba from Asia.
10 quote Professor Osler, the mortal
ity from this disease among the coolies
OF the Malay archipelago is simply
1rlghtfuL" Yet, as intimated, no spe-
enc organism of the malady has been
found. The period of incubation is
probably long-that is, the period eiaps-
ing from the time man is inoculated
until the disease manifests itself, may
be a few days or it may be many
months. One seldom gets rid Of it en-
tlrely. y man may have II every hot
season; then again it may disappear fc-'
years, TO return finally. Professor
Scheube had patient who had the dis
ease twenty years. 1t affiicts more men
than women, and more young men than
old. 1t is accompanied by pains and
weakness of the limbs, pdlp;ration Of
the heart, shortness of breaTn and SIM
liar symptoms, so that it renders its
victims peculiarly helpless. Rabbits
and monkeys, inoculated by 4 gem
which Lucerda eliminated, nave taken
the disease, but the origin remains uE-
disputed. The Japanese physicians
have given it much study and claim il
is due to the eating of raw fish. They
point to the abolishing of saw fish eat
ing in the japanese navy and the sub
sequent absence of beri-beri as proof
of the theory. But the Dutch phy.'i-
clans of Java hold that the eating Ct
bad rice causes the malady and bring
forward statistics to uphold their
claims. On the other hand, beri-beri is
contagious and thriyes un1ar nom
hygiene conditions in ships, iails, asy-
lums, Sums, etc. Perhaps the Johns
Hopkins commission may throw new
light on its origin wnen the members
return to America.
Travellers in China have often re-
ported the great number of cases of
elephantiasis, that remarkable disease
which makes veritable mountain of a
man, swelling his limbs particularly
until they are out of all proportion to
his size. Professor Patrick Manson
proved conclusively that this disease of
the Chinese was caused by little thread
like worms which the mosquito car
ries about from one person to another,
them. In this country, by
the way, the common crow gets ele-
phantiasis from being bitten by the
This little worm, the filaria,
has several cousins which are the cause
Of two or three tropical diseases, such
as the Guinea-worm disease of Africa
and the East Indies, the sleeping sick
ness of the African negro, and other
equally remarkable. There is the filaria !
1iurni, which Manson found in 1891. !
This curious worm can only be found |
IN the peripheral blood during the day
time, or when the patient stays awake. !
It can not be found at night or when |
the patient is asleep. The theory IS |
hat it must go into the inner blood !
crofti exists under directly opposite |
conditions. 1t can not be discovered |
Turing the daytime, but only at night |
when the patient sleeps. The filaria |
If the Guinea-worm disease enters its
7ictim's mouth with his food. and hav-
ng reached his stomach, refuses to be
iigested and penetrates outward until
| comes to the surface of the body
lnder the skin of which it can be felt
works its way downward, giving birth
o enormous numbers of young worms
N the way, until it reaches the ankles,
When, strangely enough, it voluntarily
caves its host.
Liver fiukes is a disease caused by
'erms, which is prevalent in Japan
nd which results in an enormous en-
argement of the liver. One case is re-
orded wherein the liver reached a
Weight of eleven pounds. Twenty per
ent Of the population of certain Japan
Sc provinces are afflicted. There is
mother fiuke disease of the bronchial
ubeS which is common in parts of
hina, Japan and Formosa- The uni
aria is another little worm which
clips to make life interesting for the
atives OF India, Egypt, Brazil and the
Vest Indies. 1t impoverishes the
lood of its victims and makes them
eak- Since there is a leper settle ,
lent in Porto Rico, on the island !
AIMED Louis Pena, and as there are ]
ANY lepers in Manila, the commits
on will study this disease, but as its
are we'll known, it need
OF be described. ,
yellow fever under eastern conditions /
i'll also be studied, and the claims of
anarelli to having eliminated a dis
net organism peculier to the disease
i'll be investigated. Sanarelli, who is
rector Of the medical institute at
ontevideo, describes the bacillus as a
mute, slender, rod-like worm from 1
70 to four microns in length, found
lily in the blood and tissues. 1t oc-
irs in very small numbers, but pro-
ices a toxine of extraordinary inten-
ty. There seems to be little doubt
lat his claims are correct. The preva- (
nee of typhoid in Honolulu and Man |
will make the visit of the commits I
on very opportune. ;
OF much greater interest however =
Ill be the investigation of Professor 4
affkine's reputed plague cure This .
highly important. The official re- n
'rt on bubonic plague for the Bonn v
~ district shows a mortality of 225. 900. I
Formosa the governor general re- :
'rts twenty-five to forty deaths daily. y
he disease is making disastrous head c
ly in Hongkong, Ismaila, Egypt. has A
en- invaded, and although the recent s
pletion of Grand Bassam, on the At "
IAN gold coast, was said to be caused lb5
yellow fever, yet il is now believed :,
at the disease was really the plague n
| this in spite of the fact that the a
dian plague commission, through Pro G
ssor Haffkine, seems to have found a a
valuable serum. Its relia- "
ity was proved by the following re- ~
arkable experiments: Twenty rats n
re taken from a ship newly arrived II
om Europe. Ten of the rodents were h
)culated with the Haffkine serum. a.
d with the uninoculated ten were nut OF
a cage which already confined a ~
igue-stricken rat. Nine of the un .,
)culated died. and only one of the w
ctored rats died. OF die 200 inhab- lie
nts of the village of Uran, 426 were A
Seven of these persons CT
re attacked with the plague, but eN
recovered Of tbeca N bo bitort. te