Evening star., 1933-10-03
CAPABILITIES PROVE
ST. LOUIS HEROES
Two Who Suffered Mosquito
Bites During Epidemic Are
Washingtonians.

Drs. ]. P. Leake and L. L. Williams
jr., of Washington and Bruce Mayne
of Columbia, S. c., were the members
of the Public Health Service staff who
voluntarily submitted themselves to be-
ing bitten by mosquitoes that had pre-
viously bitten St. Louis sleeping sick
ness victims, it was revealed yesterday
DR.. Leake was in charge of the IL
Public Health Service doctors sent to
st. Louis to help fight the mysterious
epidemic of a disease which, in some
respects, appears new in the history OF
medicine. DR.. Williams is medical
entomologist and expert on mosquito
control.
Recalling the heroic action OF Walter
Reed and his associates IN determining
the means of yellow fever transmission,
the Public Health doctors deliberately
exposed themselves to highly fatal
malady for which there is no known
method of treatment. Their names
were kept secret until 1t was certain
that the results of the experiment
were negative.
Had Slight Attack.
DR.. Leake actually had contracted
what some of his associates believe was
a mild case of sleeping sickness before
the mosquito experiment, but had re-
covered in a few hours This fitted
in with the theory that there is a
high degree of resistance to the virus
in the population as whole and that
there are scores of mild cases which
quickly recover and never are reported
Before submitting to the mosquito
bites the three doctors were reasonably
sure they had been already bitten by
mosquitoes which had fed on encephali-
tis victims, and were beginning to doubt
the theory that the virus was spread
by insects. They wanted to make sure
Belief that mosquitoes were respon-
sible for the transmission of the disease
was due to its very curious distribution,
by far the greatest number of victims
being in suburban st. Louis. 1t now
Is virtually certain that mosquitoes have
nothing to do with the spread of the
plague. The Public Health doctors
now believe it is spread by personal
contact, but the exact vector IS un-
known.
Uncertainty Exists.
They are still uncertain as to whether
the st. Louis outbreak can be classified
as one of the encephalitis lethargica de-
scribed in medical text books, of which
there have been several outbreaks
throughout the world in the last 20
years. That has been characterized by
an inflammation Of the basal ganglia Of
the brain, and especially of the third
ventricle, where, it is believed, there
Is some nervous center which controls
sleep. The inflammation has been slight
in the cerebral cortex, where the higher
brain centers are located.
In this epidemic, post-mortem exami-
nations have shown. inflammation is most
pronounced in the cortez with less pro-
nounced involvement of the basal gan
glia and third ventrical.
Another pronounced difference, it ap-
pears to date, is the fact that no serious
after effects have been found when VIC
TINS recover. The more familiar type
of encephalitis lethargica often left its
recovered victims with pronounced lack
OF motor control, especially of the eye
muscles, and sometimes with greatly re-
duced emotional control. Apparently
the deep involvement of the basal gan
glia, where are located important way
stations in the nervous system for purely
motor reactions and emotional express
sion, tended to be permanent. But the
inflammation of the cortex appears to
clear up altogether, leaving no impair
ment OF the higher brain centers.