The Tupelo journal., 1910-09-16

ZIG ShIu VI Tue l0eL anu, Mdhiu6 ITO
way to the intestine, establishes itself
there as a bloodsucker.
Such problems keep the government
health authorities moving. AS soon as
one is solved another turns up-as, for
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 i've
persons attacked by 1t In the Bitter
Root valley (where 1t assumes It's
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 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 uc-
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 (volunteer) 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 than a
very small minority of them, in a
state of nature, are infected. These
exceptional individuals probably &C
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 a practical
test of his theory that dengue, or
"breakbone" fever, owes its distribu-
ton to a mosquito Of another species
the night-fying 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 a 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 microbe of malaria come from
originally? It Is, as everybody knows,
q Is 10 say, al dulludl
organism of q low form; but its or
igin Is a puzzle.
The same thing might be said Of
the bacterial parasites that cause vel
low fever and dengue. 1t 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 to be In
visible, even under q high-power mi
croscope.
AS for dengue. to find some way
OF combating 1t was Of special i'm
p~ortance from the viewpoint Of the
war department, because 1t was OF
very troublesome In the Philippines,
breaking out in explosive epidemics,"
and incapacitating entire companies
for lighting purposes with q stimuli
taneousness most distressing. The
manner Of it's spread was such as OBJ
viously to suggest an insect agency,
and. culex fatigans, always most plen-
tiful where and when dengue ap-
peared, was naturally suspected.