Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-24
By John MeKeIwoy


In the early spring Of 1850, Q
group Of men and women APP
peared on the roof Of the Capt.
toll. Ignoring the view from that
height, they managed to set up
a box-like trap for pigeons and.
in time. totaled up their catch
at 80 birds.
Perhaps more important things
were going on inside the build
ing. At least the incident stirred
little attention. And the 80 pi-
geons were far from missed
around the Capitol.
Yet the pigeon trapping ex-
petition was the start of q
search which was to yield, Of
ficially announced today, o sin
gle scientific fact-a hard truth
as difficult to find as an honest
man.
The people who trapped the
pigeons were scientists from the
National Institutes of Health.
They packed the pigeons up
and returned to their labora-
tories in Bethesda. There the
search got under way.
Unidentified Disease.
They had this much to 60 on:
In 1887, in New York City, an
infant died of a disease which,
up to that time, had been un-
identified. The death was found
to have been caused by a germ.
Observed under a microscope,
the germ was given q name:
"toxoplasma." Called a new"
infectious disease, it has been
recognized about 500 times in
the world since 1897. Not a rare
disease and not particularly
widespread.
Most commonly, toxoplaSmoSiS
appears in the newborn infant.
It was found the germ did its
damage mainly in the central
nervous system Of the child and
often in the eyes. If not fatal,
which 1t often is, the disease
leaves the child mentally re-
tarded. A tragic. pitiful conse-
quence OF the disease is a marked
swelling Of the infants head.
Mother Infected.
Doctors guessed that, at some
point during pregnancy. the ex-
pectant mother picked up the
disease Yet the mother was
not significantly infected-she
had no symptoms. It was the
child who came down with toxo-
plasmosiS. There was one COM
forting thought: Later children
OF the same mother were safe
from toxoplasmosis. The mother.
1t was found. developed sufi-
Gent antibodieS against the dis
ease after the first infection.
Catching the pigeons in 1850
was part Of an intensive investi-
CATION of toxoplaSmosis launched
by the National ARCHAEOLOGICAL
Institute of the National In
stltutes Of Health. One angle of
the investigation was concen-
trated in the study of Just how
the germ infected human beings.
particularly adults. Toxoplas-
mosis was not serious in adults.
1t had been found. At least the
central nervous system was not
involved. it was thought, and
while the bug might produce a
feeling Of lethargy and some
swelling Of glands. an adults
antibodies put up a good enough
light to root the sickness in time.
The odd thing was that the
germ seemed to cause less dis
ease in the nervous system of
adults. while concentrating on
that delicate network in babies.
11CSCub In ANIMALS.
Scientists had found the germ
to be present in a number of
animals, including the pigeon,
the chicken, the dog and pig.
TO determine just how wide
spread was the germ in animals,
a scientist, DR.. Leon Jacobs, led
a group of laboratory aides to
the roof of ,the Capitol. They
selected pigeons because the
birds were small and easy to
work with.
The pigeons. they found, were
healthy and cooling. Yet the
birds were infected by toxoplas-
mosis, mainly in the central
nervous system. In examining
the blood streams of the pigeons,
the scientists found relatively
few antibodies against the d.
sease even though the germ was
obviously present.
This made DR.. Jacobs sus-
piciouS. He suspected that, since