Insects and Diseases: A Popular Account of the Way in Which Insects may Spread or Cause some of our Common DiseasesDoane, Rennie Wilbur
Science
Insects and Diseases: A Popular Account of the Way in Which Insects may Spread or Cause some of our Common Diseases
Doane, Rennie Wilbur
Insect pests; Insects as carriers of disease
This is another disease of the tropics often occurring in widespread
epidemics. It is probably most frequently met with in the West Indies,
but may occur in any of the tropical countries or islands. Occasionally
it spreads into subtropical or even temperate regions. Several extensive
epidemics have occurred in the United States. Once introduced into a
community it spreads very rapidly and nothing seems to confer immunity.
The various names by which it has been called well describe its effect
on the patient; breakbone fever, dandy-fever, stiff-necked or
giraffe-fever, boquet (or "bucket") fever, _scarlatina rheumatica_,
polka-fever, etc. While the suffering is intense as long as the disease
lasts it seldom terminates fatally.
It has always been classed as a very contagious disease and it has not
yet been definitely shown that it is not. Recent observations, however,
have shown that it is probably caused by a certain Protozoan parasite
that is found in the blood of dengue patients and several experiments
have been conducted by Dr. Graham which seem to indicate that it is
transmitted by mosquitoes. In these experiments, _Culex fatigans_, a
common tropical or subtropical mosquito, was used. The same parasite
that is found in the human blood may be found in the stomach and blood
of the mosquitoes up to the fifth day after it has fed on a dengue
patient.
Sick and healthy individuals were allowed to remain in close contact in
a room from which the mosquitoes had been excluded, and the disease was
not spread. Mosquitoes that had bitten dengue patients were taken to a
higher region where dengue had never occurred and allowed to bite two
healthy persons. Both developed the disease and as they were protected
from other mosquitoes until they had recovered, the disease did not
spread to others of the community. These and other observations seem to
make a complete chain of evidence, and most medical men to-day accept
the theory as well proved and in their practice take every precaution to
prevent the spread of the disease by keeping the infected patient from
being bitten by the mosquitoes.
The yellow fever mosquito is also suspected of carrying this same
disease, and it is possible that other species are also concerned. If
it is true that the parasite can be carried by several different species
of mosquitoes this would account very largely for its rapid spread
wherever it is introduced into a community. Where it occurs outside the
tropics it is only in the warm summer months when mosquitoes are always
abundant.
MALTA OR MEDITERRANEAN FEVER
This is also a tropical and subtropical disease that occasionally gets
up into the temperate region, sometimes occurring in the United States.
The fever begins with a severe headache, and other symptoms follow. It
is usually of the remittent type and may continue for some months.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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