Evening star., 1950-03-12

team reported new infections had
ceased. ="
Syphilis and it's related diseases
are usually estimated to cause
100000 deaths per year but DIR.
Thorstein Guthe of Oslo, Norway,
chief venereal disease expert, be-
lieves the true death toll is much
greater. Millions of babies are
born with syphilis every year.
Most of them die before they are
a year old.
Throughout Southeast Asia, the
West Indies, Africa and the Middle
East, two forms of syphilis known
as yaws and bejel cause untold
death and suffering. They are
easily transmitted through a
Ihandshake or an infected drinking
cup. In Europe itself, tens Of
thousands of Yugoslav Moslems
suffer from local form of syphilis
which is also passed from person
20 person without intercourse.
Fortunately, all the variations
of syphilis can be cured with peni-
cillin. w. H. o. experts in many
countries are teaching new tech
niques of treatment. A large-scale
project Is under way in Haiti and
adjacent areas of the Dominican
Republic to rid the population Of
syphilis and yaws.
In fighting venereal disease,
w. H. o. experts again found
themselves up against ignorance
and superstition in many areas.
In Ethiopia, which probably has
the worlds highest venereal disease
rate, DR.. Guthe saw tribal witch
doctors prescribing the blood of a
black male goat as a cure for
syphilis.
TB Greatest Killer
In the, more highly, developed
countries, syphilis is concentrated
mainly in the big cities and sea-
ports. Important navigable rivers
carry the infection far inland.
For decades the River Rhine has
been renowned as black stream
of venereal infection between Rot
terdam and the inland ports all
the way up to Switzerland.
A special international commits
sion was set up under w. H. o.
auspices to coordinate and i'm
prove the treatment of syphilis in
Rhine boatmen in all the coun-
tries bordering on the river.
The greatest killer of all among
the infectious diseases is tubercu-
losis.. More than 5000, 900 people
die Of it every year, although it
has been preventable since Koch
discovered the tuberculin bacillus
in 1882. The reason, w. H. o.
says, Is q total lack of doctors
and medical equipment in large
areas of the world.
Anti-tubercular beg" vaccine
was introduced in 1921, but it was
never extensively used until w. H.
o. opened a vast anti-TB cam
paign two years ago. In co-opera-
ton with the Danish Red Cross
and the International Children's
Emergency Fund, more than 10
million European children were
tested for tuberculosis and half of
them vaccinated with BEG. The
program is to be extended all over
the world this year.
"The intense tuberculosis prob
lem is not in Europe at ALL" DR..
John B. McDougall Of Edinburgh,
Scotland, explained. 1.-THE worst
areas are in Asia, in the Pacific
Islands and in Latin America. In
India alone tuberculosis kills more
than million persons every year" /"
DR.. McDougall, w. II. o. chief
tuberculosis expert, returned re-
Gently from a survey in India,
THE surprising thing is not that
the death and sickness rates are
so high" he said, but that many
OF these poor people are able to
live at ALL"
tuberculosis centers to be estab-
lished by w. H. o. in India, PAX
istan. Burma and Ceylon will COM
bine prevention and treatment with
training Of personnel, DR.. Nc
Dougall said, so that the whole
project will grow SNOWFALL fash
ion." Centers eventually will be
set up in areas where no doctor
has been seen before.
Soviet Walked Out
On all w. H. o. health maps
there is large blank space-So-
Wet Russia. The Soviet Union and
its satellites originally took an ac-
tive part. Last year, however, the
Russians walked out. Bulgaria
followed suit and most of the other
satellites have become lukewarm
But even while the Soviet Union
was full member, no information
on disease in Russia ever reached
the experts in Geneva.
w. H. o. still regards Russia le-
gally a member and regularly sends
medical literature and periodicals
to the Soviet Ministry of Health
and to universities in Russia and
the Ukraine. The books are never
returned. but neither are they
acknowledged.
At w. H. O.'s first annual as
sembly in 1948, Czechoslovakia
pressed for the establishment of q
regional Office in Prague to give
special assistance to "war-devas-
tated nations in Eastern Europe.
The proposal was turned down,
mainly for financial reasons. Now
with more funds available w. H. o.
would like to set up a European
office, but the Czechs are no longer
interested.
Although political dissension has
stalled progress in Europe, w. H. o.
is setting up health regions
elsewhere to decentralize it's war
on disease. Regional organiza-