The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-08-12

the disease they cause is so Sham.
ly localized, the public health spr-
geons suspect that some species 81
animal living in the San Ioaouin
Valley is serving - q reservoir q
the contagion.
The public health service has "a
many more formidable enemies 10
human life to fight that it is d.
voting no undue amount of atten.
ton to San Joaquin Valley diseasa
In the 20 years since the disease
han been recognized. fewer than so
cases have occurred in California
Consequently the people of the
San Joaquin Valley, despite tn
malady, continue to be good life In
surance risks and can 20 to bed
Of nights without worrying Test
they be invaded by the infection
which some branch Of the native
fauna is evidently carrying around.
Another Queer Disease.
OF much more concern to the
public health service lately is an
other disease now prevalent in the
United States but little known to
the public. This ailment is known
as clonorchiasis, or liver fuke dis
ease. Although there are hun
dreds and even thousands of cases
Of 1t how existing in this country,
and the stage is apparently all set
for it, not q single case Of clonor-
chiasis has ever been known to
develop in the United States. It is
entirely imported by its victims.
most if not all Of whom are Chinese
and Japanese. The public health
surgeons estimate offhand that one
Of every 100 Chinese in the United
States is suffering from it. Any
alien suffering with clonorchiasis
is barred by the quarantine regula-
tons from entering the United
States, but the disease is often
hard to detect, and undoubtedly
numerous sufferers get in.
The scientists studying clonoror-
chiasis have revealed the fact that
nature can Guido the most imagi-
native novelist when it, comes 10
stretching the long arm Of coinci-
dence. Most informed persons are
aware Of the curious life cycle of
the malaria germ, which, after leav-
ing the body ia carrier, must
undergo a stage of existence in the
body Of a mosquito. The life cycle
Of the liver fluke, as the worm IS
called which causes this disease,
goes far beyond that Of the malaria
germ in complexity.
|. Suppose a fiction writer were to
develop a detective story in which
he would have the villain commit
murder in this way: The villain
would implant certain infection
in a dog. Then he would arrange
it that the eggs of the murderous
organism should leave the dog and
take up residence in a snail The
snail would then be eaten by
fish; and not by any fish but BY
certain kind OF trout The trout
must then be caught and eaten by
the victim of the pilot; but the
victim must not cook the fish-he
must eat it raw. At this point the
editor to whom such q story was
submitted would cease to read and
would send it back to its author as
preposterous.
Yet that is precisely what hap
pens when a Chinese contracts
cloEorchiasis. The liver parasite.
first in the form of its eggs, passes
from dogs or men to other men.
through the medium Of two hosts. .
certain aquatic snail and a trout Of
a certain species. in both of which
intermediate stations it completes
stages of its existence. If the fish
were cooked, the worm would be
destroyed.
The public health scientists have
discovered that both the snails and
the fish of the requisite varieties
exist together in this country. What
saves the American people from an
epidemic of clonorchiasis is the
fact that they do not eat their trout
raw.
Liver fiuke disease is seldom
fatal, but it is nevertheless incur
able. Science has not yet discov-
cred q poison that will kill the
parasite without first killing the
host.