Evening star., 1937-01-31
,BY COVE HAABIDGE.
VICTOR q. HEIsER, e3, not long
! ago returned from his fifteenth
! trip around the world. But he

the worlds pest holes and fever spots.
Governments whose duty It Is to bring
health to long lines Of sick black.
skinned, yellow-skinned people. are
asking Victor Heiser for sciences lat.
est message.
We in American are rather well OF.
We have our troubles, to be sure.
There Is plenty Of disease among Us.
But We are not smitten by frightful
plaques. We do not drop by thou-
sands like strychnine- e-baited grass.
hoppers. We do not drag ourselves
around, weak with malaria. hookworm.
The Orient i something different.
Traditionally, the Orient has been full
Of pest holes. These people have had
to build into their philosophy . dread
full fatalism. There was no other way
to face this mysterious. insatiable
death.
At least, It seemed mysterious. Yet
II Is strange that Is, one after an.
other, We crash the gates Of death.
We discover behind them curiously
simple things. XIII certain mosquitoes.
Kill dies. Wash hands. Dig wells
deep. Bury excrement. BY means as
simple a. these many Of the most
deadly diseases can be held at arms
Orient Seemed Hopeless.
Large areas Of the world have long
been cleaned up, made safe against
the diseases that suddenly smite thou.
sands. But the Orient seemed hope
less. Death grew fat there. fattening
ON ignorance, superstition. poverty.
low standards Of living, uncleanliness.
crowdins, famine. fatalism. ancient
traditions. Certain small areas were
cleaned up enough for white men to
live there, II they were careful. To 60
farther, to make the Orient safe for
its own people, seemed beyond pos
sibAity.
DR.. Victor @. Heiser, now on the At
lantic once more, en- route to Africa,
Is an old hand at playing hide-and-
seek with death. He was . pioneer in
entertaining and putting into effect
this incredible idea that the Orient
could be made safe. For some time he
played lone hand. But when the
Rockefeller Foundation was organized
In 1918 Victor Heiser was shortly after
taken on. He has been playing the
game ever since. Only recently did he
retire-to do more, not less. work.
Many people think Of the Rockefeller
Foundation In terms Of research. con-
fusing It with the Rockefeller nsti.
tute. But the institute represents only
one phase In the control Of disease.
Research Is essential In fighting death.
But it Is only the first step. After
that comes the battle, for which re-
search has discovered the weapons
and the enemy. It Is . thoroughly
practical fight, involving governmental
organization and . hundred pesky,
practical details in hundred scat
tered places. It is this fight on .
hundred fronts that has made Victor
G. Heiser the only serious rival Of the
Wandering Jew.
Egypt's Ancient Plague.
In Egypt there are Il, ,ooo. 900 people.
OF these, it Is estimated that fully one
half, or 6,o00.o00 are suffering from
schistosoniasis, sometimes known as
Biiharzia OF these 5000. 600 again.
one-half, or 5000, 900, are seriously Ill.
What Is schistosomiasis besides being .
jaw-breaking name? It Is q disease Of
the liver, intestines, abdominal organs
in general. It produces frightful tu-
mors. The man or woman who has 1t
badly Is knocked out. incapacitated.
A cure can In most instances be ef-
fected quickly. but 1t may take years
for those to die who are not reached
by the remedy.
In the face Of tough situation like
this, it Is . good idea to send for DR..
Heiser. The Egyptian government did.
He has been cooperating with the
government in ferreting out practical
means to prevent the spread Of the
disease. Two American scientists are
im Egypt now working with the Egyp-
tians. Although much Is known; sure
methods to control the disease under
deld condittons are still lacking.
Sehistcsomiasis IS caused by parA-
site, . tiny. round worm almost invis-
ible to the naked eye. which gets In
side the human body, lays its eggs
there. The eggs are passed out In body
wastes. They are swallowed BY .: Ger
tain snail, the planorbis. Within the
snail they hatch, become minute wig
glers, cercaria. BY the millions the
mails excrete these wiggiers into
water. Any one who wades in this
water, washes or bathes In It, drinks
1t, gets the wigglers-gets Bilharzia,
gets tufnors, disorder In al his func-
tions, terrible pains. .-.
So far 80 good: this research has dis.
covered. Now comes as tough . prob
lem. Why are these eggs always where
the water snail planorbs can get
them? The reason Is religious. The
good Mohanaetan-so his tenets OF
cleanliness teach-1nust perform the
bodily function of eliminating waste
within reach Of water. Thus Ma
homet, teaching cleanliness but not
knowing cercaria, made things ex-
ceedingly easy for the worm. 1t can
get into Egyptian intestines without
half trying. ~
. But to keep It out-this involves
changing the habits Of 100000 peo-
pie, either getting them to repudiate
. clause OF their religion or devising
sanitary measures that will conform
to the clause. Dimcult, when most
of the people cannot even read.
Nevsrthsless, 1t u written that. Bill
harzia must 20; in the temper Of the
world today, al such things must 60.
The little. eggs must be kept away
from. any place whore hungry snails
can get them-or; perhaps the snail
must 90. 17nen.' 1t - believed, the
cycle viii be btoken. Il. -. -
"A Practical Prssiem.A
"A thoroughly practical problem. The
most promising solution 10 far sounds
exceedingly simple. >. The Egyptian
peasants, the fellaheen, cannot AFFORD
luxuries. No tiled bath rooms. Not
even the -fowly outhouae. Too expen-
sive. What nature provides need not