Evening star., 1940-05-03

Brazil is waging stubborn but
slowly winning fight against vi
cious insect which is q threat to
much of the Western Hemisphere,
DR.. Joao de Barros Barreto, former
national director of health of that
country. told the american
Conference of National Health Di-
rectors here yesterday.
The foe is anopheles gambia, an
African mosquito which is the vectbr
of an extremely virulent type of
malaria. It first appeared in Brazil
about 10 years ago and is believed
to have been brought from North
Africa by airplane on one of the
early South Atlantic flights. 1t is
now to be found in large area
along the Atlantic Coast from Rio
de Janeiro northward.
Up to the present, DR.. Barreto
said, more than 10000 cases have
been reported, and there has been
a very high death rate. Left at first
to the states, the fight against this
mosquito was taken over entirely
by the federal government as soon
as the magnitude of the problem
from national and international
standpoints was recognized.
Spread Appears Halted.
The spread of the mosquito, DR..
Barreto said, seems to have been
stopped and in some districts it has
been entirely eliminated. 1t still
constitutes a major menace, how
ever, and is one of the great sources
of worry for national health services
throughout the New World. Not only
is this mosquito very difficult to
combat, DR.. Barreto said, but it car
ries very high degree of infection.
AT least IS per cent of sample mos
quito catches have been found to
carry the malaria organism.
Not only are all breeding places
for the insects being cleaned up and
sprayed but there is an extensive
campaign of fumigation Of houses,
railroad trains, boats and airplanes.
After DR.. Barreto's report, Brazil
was given an unanimous vote of
thanks by the health representatives
of the other countries for the CAM
paign.
A development which some physi-
clans present believed might be of
extreme Importance as a possible
opening step toward immunization
against syphilis was reported by DR..
Harry Eagle of Johns Hopkins Uni
versity.
The disease is due to a curious
micro-organism, spirochita pallida,
which is so close to the borderline
between plant and animal that bac-
teriologists are at odds as to which
kingdom it belongs. Numerous ef-
forts have been made in the past to
cultivate this organism in artificial
media OF some sort, but all have
failed and the only way to keep it
alive for laboratory study has been
by passing it through a continuous
succession of syphilis-infected ami
mals-chiefly rabbits.
Most Sensitive Test Devised.
Now, DR.. Eagle sold the confer
ence, he has received from Germany
and from Russia two strains of mi
cro-organisms which were allegedly
obtained from human syphiHtic le-
sions, which grow readily in q cul-
ture medium, and which provide,
In the hands of few skilled tech
nicians, the most sensitive test for
syphilis yet devised when they are
mixed with the blood serum of the
person being examined.
These organisms look and act like
the syphilis organisms, but they do
not give the disease to rabbits. DR..
Eagle believes that they are not
actual spirochita pallida, but such
close relatives that 1t is impossible
to tell them apart at present. He
has worked with them entirely with