The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1910-11-15


way to the intestine, establishes itself /
there as bloodsucker.
Such problems keep the government 4
health authorities moving. AS soon as
one is solved another turns up-as. for 1
instance, in the case of the mysterious
spotted fever" which has been max
ing so much trouble lately in the
mountainous regions of Montana and
adjacent Rocky Mountain states 1t
is an entirely new complaint, but ex-
tremely fatal, four out Of every five
persons attacked by IT in the Bitter
Root valley where 1t assumes its
most virulent form) passing speedily
from the sick bed to the burying
ground A characteristic symptom Is
an eruption Of pimply red spots all
over the body.
Investigation has proved that this
disease is due TO a germ" of some
sort-presumably bacterium, but so
minute as not to be visible under the
microscope-which is carried by
certain species Of wood tick There
is no question of the accountability OF
cessfully transmitted, in an expert
mental way. through the medium Of
/ its bite, from guinea pig to guinea pig.
from monkey TO monkey and even
! from human being to human being Tin
two tvolunteer) instances Some OF
the insects were brought to Washing
ton and encouraged to lay eggs, which
were duly Matched by DR.. Stiles; but
It does not appear that more than a
very small minority of them. in a
state of nature, are infected. These
exceptional individuals probably ac-
quire 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 have to be run in the experiment
tai study Of diseases. 1t does not mat
ter how deadly the malady may be,
there are always men ready to take
their lives in their hands for such pur-
poses. often without reward. Such
was the case when a call was issued
in Cuba. in 1900. for soldiers willing
to expose themselves to the bites of
mosquitoes carrying the infection OF
yellow fever. It was the case again
recently. when Capt. Charles F. Craig,
of the army medical corps. wanted
men in the Philippines for practical
test OF his theory that dengue. or
"breakbone" fever. owes its distribu-
ton to a mosquito Of another species
the night-flying culex fatigans. an in
sect already positively known to be
the carrier of the parasite thread
worm which causes elephantiasis
Wherever one looks. in the study OF
diseases. one finds animals of various
kinds acting as the carriers of the
germs which make the mischief Sci
ence as yet has made only 8 beginning
in this sort of investigative work. The
Anopheles mosquito Is known TO be
the sole conveyor and distributor OF
the malaria microbe. but where did
the nicrobe of malaria come from
originally II Is. as everybody knows
a protozoon--that Is 70 say. an ANNA
organism of low form: but its or
, igin is puzzle.
The same thing might be said oi
the bacterial parasites that cause vel
, low fever and dengue. II is thought
they are closely related. the symptoms
they produce being somewhat similar
but nobody ever saw either OF them
/ Like the germs of measles and scarlet
fever. they are so minute as 70 be in
visible. even under a h.gh-power mi
: croScope.
: AS for dengue. to ind some wa,
: of combating ii was of special i'm
. portance from the viewpoint of tbs
$ war department. because it was o
very troublesome in the Philippines
s breaking out in explosive epidemics,
r and incapacitating entire companie
+ for fighting purposes with a stimuli
4 taneousness most distressing. Thu
: manner of Its spread was such as oh
/ viously TO suggest an insect agency
D and culex fatigans. always most plen
l. tiful where and when dengue az
h peared, was naturally suspected.