The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1910-09-16

SN~ -
way to the intestine, establishes itself
there as a b~loodsucker.
Such problems keep the government
health authorities moving. AS soon as
one Is solved another turns up-as, 1or
instance, in the case OF the mysterious
spotted fever" which has been max
ing so much trouble lately in the
mountainous regions of Montana n
adjacent Rocky Mountain states. IL
is an entirely new complaint. out eA-
tremely fatal, four out of every nVe
persons attacked by 1t in the Bitter
Root valley (where it assumes lts
most ~virulent form) passing specify
from the sick bed to the Durylns
ground. A Characteristic symptom is
an eruption of pimply red spots al
over the body.
Investigation has proved that this
disease Is due to a germ" OF some
sort-presumably a bacterium, but SO
/ minute as not to be visible under the
microscope-which Is carried by a
certain species of wood tick. There
Is no question of the accountability OF
the tick. for the malady has been sue
cessfully transmitted. in an expert
mental way, through the medlum OF
it's bite, from guinea pig to guinea pig.
from monkey to monkey and even
from human being to human being TIN
two (~volunteer) instances. Some or
the insects we're brought to Washing
ton and encouraged to lay eggs, which
were July Matched by DR.. Stiles; but
It does not appear that more than a
very small minority OF them, IN q
state of nature, are infected. These
exceptional individuals probably &C.
ouire their infection by biting some
animal which harbors the germ. but
what animal that is, nobody knows.
Speaking of volunteers, there seems
. never to be any lack Of them, where
:, risks nave to be run in the experiment
tai study of diseases. 1t Ices not mat
ter how deadly the malady may be-
l there are always men ready to take
. their lives in their hands for such pur'
l poses, often without reward. Sucn
was the case when a call was issued
1 lin Cuba, in 1900, for soldiers willing
to expose themselves to the bites o.
mosquitoes carrying the infection Of
u yellow fever. It was the case aga1r
n recently. when Capt. Charles F. Craig
of the army medical corps, wanted
. men in the Philippines for a prectlca
!. test of his theory that dengue. o.
u "breakbone' fever, owes its distribu
. ton to a mosquito Of another species
the night-fying culex fatigans, an In
sect already positively known to b.
y the carrier Of the parasite thread
worm which causes e~lephantiasis.
q Wherever one looks, in the study o
: diseases. one finds animals OF var1ou
o kinds acting as the carriers OF tn
70 germs which make the mischief. Sc
D. ence as yet has made only a beginnin
., IN this sort of investigative work. In
Anomalies mosquito Is known to b
= the sole conveyor and distributor {
. the malaria microbe; but b di
: the microbe of malaria come frol
" originally? It is, as everybody knows
a protozoon-that is to say, an anlm'
~ organism of a low form: but Its o
igin is a puzzle.
The same thing might be said
y. the bacterial parasites that cause ye
81 low fever and dengue. 1t Is hougl
they are closely related. b symptom
Is. they produce being somewhat simila
1t but nobody ever say either OF ther
~ Like the germs of measles and scarf
10 fever. they are so minute as to be !
!, visible, even under q high-power n
Wa croscope.
nj Az for dengue, to find some WI
he Of combating 1t was OF special Il
portance from the viewpoint OF t
Is war department, because itlwas
I'd very troublesome In the Philippine
breaking out In explosive epfdemics
ter and incapacitating entire compan
on for fighting purposes with a SIN
n taneousness most distressing. i
ne manner of it's spread was such as {
ou- viously to suggest an insect agen'
ian and culex fatigans, always most pis
mi tiful where and when dengue
Ugh peared, was naturally suspected.