The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-11-09
F |NDS CHECK FOR
PH|L|PP| me PLAGUE
DR.. t. L. Walker Makes Az
nouncement as TO Means TO
Fight Amoebic Dysentery.
EXPERIMENTAL 3 YEARS
Declares That Ii Is Possible 10 Erad:.
cate Disease from Any We'll Kept
Community in The Tropics.
Especial Dispatch.)

MANILA, y oVcmbcr :.
N + ER three years OF experiment TO
.Adctermine the nature. prevention and
cure Of anoeoic dysentery, Or. T.. f..
walker. OF the Bureau OF Science OF the
government OF the Philippine Islands
has just made public some important dis
coveries regarding the iusidious ,ropical
disease. His statement, printed in the Phil
iphine Journal OF Science, gives the history
OF many experiments in which information
VAS gained by feeding various kinds OF
amoebae 10 volunteers
In the problem of tropical sanitation
there Is at present no moro serious consd-
Grafton than that OF amoebic dysen,crv.
and effective mea sures to prevent spread
OF the disease have been sought for many
years. Amoebac are 10 be found every
where in the tropics. in the water. on soil.
on plants and even in the air. and tho
case Win which the ailment is contracted
together With the difficulty of curing it,,
mas made IL vital menace In trop!cal
countries
One of the results attained by DR..
Walker is the proof that only ono species
OF amoeoa is pathogcnic and that il IS
possible 10 eradicate the disease from any
Well kept and sanitary community in the
tropics. He has found effective treat
mehts' most OF them much more modera c
ana comforta bic than those formerly prac
,iscd. and through his work the rava-es
of the dysentery have been halted 10 n
considerable extent;
In a statement made TO Your cor
respondent concerning his researches DR..
Walker said
The knowledge obtained in our !nvcs-
legations divides the amoeoac into three
distinct classes and enables q specialist TO
diagnose with certainty the progress of
t'eat ment applicable. 1T makes it UNI
necessary for those persons who are para
sitiZed with the harmless entamoeba TO
undergo treatment and enables the physi-
clan TO forestal with treatment attacks
and rclapscs OF the more serious quality
OF the disease
The precautions that must be taken TO
prevent infection OF the virulcnt cuta.
mocha must be generally known by all
'fN'SNh 'iN'HS III ile tropics, since the
pathoScnic cntamoebia can propagate only
as parasite in the intestnes of man II
mas been definitely established that every
case of entamoebic dysentcry must orig
mate directly or indirectly from some
other case of the same type and the stems
10 tramp out the disease must therefore
be organized and general.
we have made 1t clear that water or
raw vegetables of themselves. or In conse.
iquencc OF the common amocbae In or
upon them. cannot cause cntamoebic
ldyscntery. II is only when they are CON
iaminatcd with faecal matter that they
become passive carriers of the infection.
There is possibility. OF course of con-
tamination of water or food in cases where
sewage Is allowed 10 enter into a water
supply or where contaminated fertilizer
is used to produce vegetables The mat
ter. therefore. rests largely with care and
sanitation, and Il great amount of the
disease can be curbed in this way alone I"