The Washington herald., 1914-01-11
"GHOST GNAT"
CAUSES SCOURGE
Scientist Says Insect Is Re-
sponsible for Peru's
Enemy.
VERRUGA KILLS MANY
American Entomologist, DR.. Town
send, Believes Phlebotomus Is
Carrier of Disease.

The discovery in the so-called ''ghos'
gnat'' of the cause of verruga. an OBJ
scure disease which has cost thousands
OF lives in Peru. is announced by DR.
Charles II. T. Townsend, American en-
tomologist and director of the Peruvian
chronological Station. in an article in
Peru Today
From the earliest times verruga has
caused terror in Peru. In the early years
Of the building of the Central Railway
il is estimated that 1900 lives were lost
from this cause. In 1909. out of force
of 2ooo men engaged in the tunnel work
on the railway, 200 are known to have
died of verruga.
In ,lSs5. Daniel A Carrion. a native OF
Cerro del Pasco. then twenty-six years
cid and studying medicine at Lima, de-
ci6ed to inoculate himself with the germ
In an effort to obtain an accurate data
concerning the disease. Twenty-three
days later the malady appeared. Carrion,
cheerful to the end, took notes and gave
to his friends who watched him mlhute
descriptions of the disease. He died In
tbiry-nine days, after having demon
strated that verruga and the so-called
''Oroya fever" were the same disease
Each year the medical students of Lima
decorate the grave OF Carrion as that
Of one of Peru's greatest martyrs.
Believed to BE Insect.
For many years 1t has been the opin-
ion of medical students that the scourge
was transmitted by some insect. but II
has been impossible till now to demon
strate what particular insect had this
faculty. Mosquitoes and ticks were both
eliminated from consideration.
.srl,N .xf 1r- n
send found an insect. which he calls
the phIebotomus, sticking TO the win
dowpane of a railway station at San
Bartolome. The existence of this in
sect i'm Peru had never before beer
and DIR. Townsend began tc
work upon the assumption that he had
at last discovered the transmitter oil
verruga. Since then DR.. Townsend has
spent much time In the yerruga zones,
making further observations and collect
ing further specimens
The phlebotomus breeds in rocky cref-
ices and caves. the dark canyons OF the
verruga zones particularly favoring IT'S
growth. 1t avoids the wind, sun and
full daylight, coming forth only after
sunset. The natives call 1t the ghost
snat" 1t is less than an eighth Of an
inch In length and is whitish In coler.
Appears I'm Two Forms.
DR.. Townsend outlines his case against
the ghost gnat very carefully, saving;
"Phlebotomus is very distinct, both in
appearance and in bloodsucking haoits-
from any other bloodsucker, either IN
or out of the verruga zcnes, and Is thus
unrnistakable, while ii is practically
proved to be the only bloodsucker present
that Is not excluded by stubborn facts
from being the carrier of the disease"
BY a process of elimination. cepsidering
the life history Of the insect. DR.. Town
send comes to the conclusion that the
gnat Is the carrier Of the disease.
The disease verruga appears both in
a malignant and In benign" FORM In
malignant cases about s. per cent of the
patients die. In the benign" fern of
the disease 10 per cent of the native
patients die and about 40 per cent Of the
foreisnerk