Evening star., 1932-03-28
MOSQUITOES HELP
DOCTORS FIGHTING
DISEASE OF BRAIN
Coaxed to Bite Patients
Needing Malaria Fever
to Stop PareSis.
TINY INSECTS GUARDED
CAREFULLY BY SAVANTS
U. S. Experts Study Transports
ton Problem and Seek to Keep
Germs Alive in Solution.
BY THOMAS HENRY.

DI lnOMAS HENRY.
Public Health Service scientists are
working to make a medicine" for
paresis out of the salivary glands of
mosquitoes.
This widely prevalent disease of the
brain, due to specific micro-organism
which attacks the brain tissue, now
treated generally by injecting the VIC
TINS with a tropical form of malaria,
which produces succession of fevers.
The high temperatures are believed to
kill the micro organisms. The Public
Health Service doctors want to produce
the same effect with liquid that can
be carried around in a bottle and in
Jected with hypodermlc needle by a
physician.
The malaria treatment, discovered in
Austria and largely developed at st.
Elizabeths Hospital here, has proved
quite successful but is awkward. It is
necessary to have the patient bitten by
mosquitoes which have themselves ac-
quired the benign tertian malaria or
ganism by feeding on a victim or car
rier of this malady There is consider
able difficulty in keeping on hand
constant supply Of such infected in
SectS.
Last year the Public Health Service
undertook to supply the constantly in
creasing demand with mosquitoes reared
under carefully controlled conditions, so
that hospital anywhere in the country
could obtain some of the insects upon
request and be assured that they were
not carrying any disease other than the
malaria.
Concentrated In Glands.
The Sporozoites, or malaria organisms.
it has been found, are concentrated in
the salivary glands of the mosquitoes,
and these themselves are microscopic
The micro-organismS are passed on to
the human being in the saliva of the
insect which gets into the blood stream
when it bites. The salivary glands of a
large number of heavily infected mos
quitoeS have been diSSected out and the
sporozoites placed in citrate and saline
solution suitable for injection into a
human being.
With this medicine, according to a
report just issued from the Public
Health Service, it is possible to infect
paresiS victim with the benign tertain
malaria up to only two hours after kill
ing the mosquitoes. But biological tests
have shown that some of the SporoZoites
are alive in the solution for as long as
four days The problem the Public
Health Service research workers face Is
not only to keep them alive in the solu-
ton for several days in large numbers,
but to have them retain the ability to
carry the infection. All sorts of Solu
tions are being tried out with this end
in view, as fast as patients can be
secured.
Another line of research to the same
end apparently has run against a
blank wall. 1t has been found that
mosquitoes can acquire the infection
from feeding on the blood, not only
of person actually suffering from the
malaria, but from a carrier" Of this
disease, himself immune to it. The
possibility that the sporozoites might
remain alive in carriers blood after
it had been withdrawn was considered.
Then the blood itself might be used for
injecting fresh mosquitoes. But it has
been demonstrated that the insects
don't acquire the infection from drink
ing blood, unless it is in the victim S
body.
48 Hours Limit So Far.
The possibility is held out that a
solution of the malaria organisms may
be produced which will retain its
potency for several weeks. Such
preparation could be prepared at
leisure and shipped to any part OF the
country from which call came. Gull
lures have been prepared which seemed
to retain some of the organisms as
long as three weeks. but these have
not actually been tested on paret1cS. -.
Some experiments have been carried
on to find how long malaria blood
taken from one patient can be kept
before injection in another. Up to the
present as hours has been the limit.
When patients are fairly close to each
other it has been found simple mat
ter to infect a new patient from an
old by direct blood injection. Strangely
enough. this only works with members
of the white race. The disease CANNOT
be transferred in this way among the
colored race, which is extremely re-
fractory to the malaria Infection.
AT present it is necessary TO seno tne
mosquitoes themselves by express or py
mail. method of keeping ana SNIP
ping them has been worked OUT Wnich
greatly increases their length OF lie.
1t has been possible to send the insects
over long distances to infect paretlcS,
bring them back alive to the laboratory,
and then use them for other trips. Such
insects are almost worth their weight
in gold.
The drawback is that it is necessary
for a trained attendant to accompany
the insects, watch their release on tne
paretic and then recover them by
special technique. The insects must be
coaxed to bite. The Public Health SerV-
ice doctors are working on technique
by which it is hoped that any hospital
attendant or doctor can do this work
| and at The same time not nJure the
| precious mosquitoes.
Different Kinds Tested.
Another line is research to determine
what varieties of mosquito can acquire
the infection and at the same time pass
it on the human being. Thus lar one
| new variety has been found and 1t mas
been found still another salt water
variety can itself acquire the Sporozoites,
although it is not known whether 1t can
| transmit them to man.
The benign tertian malaria sporozoites
are not native to temperate cllmeS and
extreme precautions must be taken to
| assure a continuance Of the strain In
the United States where their use has
reached its greatest development.
ARRANGING FOR 1000
kTu G CMDI 0VCC, PAII