Evening star., 1953-01-14
Rockefeller Foundation
Studies II New Viruses
Heterogeneous Moy Cuuse
Entirely Unknown Diseases
By Thomos R. Henry


Eleven new viruses, some Of which
may cause entirely unknown human
and animal diseases, are being studied
by Rockefeller Foundation scientists.
Seven of the viruses are from East
Africa. -Four have just been found in
South America. The list has been cut
down from an original II with the
identification of six with known disease
agents.
Apparently all these viruses, most
minute forms of living things. are dis
tributed by biting insects. The diseases
for which they are most probably re-
Sponsible presumably would be forms Of
encephalltis, often fatal brain affec-
tions, best known of which is the Amer
lean form of sleeping sickness.
All the African viruSes were found in
blood Of men and animals incidental to
surveys of the extent of the organism
responsible for yellow fever.
Very Wide Range.
At least one Of the disease agents, it
now has been determined, has a very
wide range. This is the so-called Mengo
virus. After its discovery in Africa it
was found to be identical with an agent
first described in New York some years
before. 1t was next isolated from a sick
chimpanzee in Florida. It then was
found to be responsible for an epidemic
of an encephalitis-li malady which
broke out among American soldiers in
Japan. Latest development is it's dis
covery in sick monkey in Colombia.
1t well may constitute a quite serious
threat and unquestionably attacks man
at times, although some believe that
this is not common. One per cent of a
small surveyed population in Tangan-
ylka and Uganda showed evidence Of
past infection with this icro-organism.
Two More Isolated.
Two more of the African viruses were
isolated from the blood of sick persons.
Others were isolated from mosquitoes.
Antibodies to most of them have been
found in the blood of humans, showing
that the persons once were infected, but
1t is not known whether they were
seriously ill.
Finding of other vlruses of the same
order in Brazil and Colombia is an un-
expected development. Four from Brazil
appear to be closely related to each
other and nearly the same as a hither-
to known organism which causes fatal
encephalitis in mice.
Stature and Susceptibility.
There is an old popular theory that
certain kinds of diseases most often
attack certain kinds of people.
A tall, thin individual is supposed
to suffer from a weak chest" A
stocky, red-faced man presumably il
likely to have stroke.
Many doctors, especially general
practitioners, believe this from quite
general, uncontrolled observations. The
ideas may have some basis. The Rookie
feller Foundation has made a $1O0 900
grant to the University of Oregon Med
ical School to make a complete in
vestigation.
People will be classified as "endo-
morphs. mesomorphs and ectomorphs,"
according to technique known as
somatotyping developed by DR.. William
H. Sheldon of Columbia. The "endo-
morph" is rotund. lightly boned and
lightly muscled. The 'mesomorph" is
sturdy with big bones and muscles.
The "ectomorph" is slender with long
and narrow muscular-skeletal develop
ment. %t~.
Many on Borderline.
Preliminary use of the somatotyping
technique in several clinics has sug-
gested, according to the Rockefeller
Foundation report, that it is possible
to correlate the incidence of certain
diseases, like peptic ulcer and hyper
thyroidism. with identifiable body
types. A great difficulty is that so many
folks are on the borderline between
one type and another.
Prof. Howard P. Lewis Of the Univer-
sity Of Oregon and his group now are
attempting to apply the method to a
wide range Of unsolicited cases In order
to arrive at statistically valid results.
At present, only patients entering the
general medical clinic are included In
the study. but plans have been made
to type patients from the speciality
clinics and the university hospitals.
Eventually. it is hoped, human dis
ease spectrum will be built up This.
at least, would give family doctors
some clues as to what to expect and
what to warn their patients against.