Disease on the Wing

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23850, 28 December 1940, Page 8 (Supplement)

Disease on the Wing

WT7 Hl! ' K " 10 war ''° r ' lUHian \\/ freedom is at its height, VY with America more and more deeply concerned, another war goes on in which America also has a vital interest. It is a new phase of the long war against malaria, and a remarkable story is told of it in the new report of the Rockefeller Foundation, reviewing its work for last: year. One of the mosquitoes carrying the seeds of malaria, Anopheles Gambiae, appears to have reached America either bv aeroplane or oil a trench destroyer. It was first found in Brazil in 19.30, and since then has travelled .300 miles with the prevailing winds, westward from the coast. It has spread itself over 12.000 square miles, and health workers are alarmed by what has happened. One distinguished expert in malaria declares that this invasion of Gambiae threatens the continent with a. catastrophe compared with which ordinary pestilence, and even war, are small calamities, "for Gambiae literally enters into the very veins of a country, and may remain to plague it for centuries."

In one year the mosquito reached a point 115 miles from where it was first seen, and though great droughts checked its progress for some years, it crept on at about 40 miles a year, probably carried along the shore in boats. Last year it had spread so far that the Rockefeller Foundation spent £IOO,OOO in fighting it, and over 100,000 people were treated for disease it had caused. By mid-summer a, staff of 2000 doctors, technicians, scouts, inspectors, guards, and labourers was available, all trained in keeping the mosquito in check. ft breeds mainly in shallow rainwater pools open to the sun; it does not lay eggs in permanent deep water, but has the curious habit of taking advantage of every little depression in the ground, such as wheel tracks or animal footprints, where water remains a little while. In the rainy season, with daily showers, the mosquito is a terrific enemy to fight. The frontiers of this war against the Garbiae are marked by fumigation posts, which form a line of fortresses against the mosquito. It has been planned that a ten-mile zone beyond its farthest known limit shall bo made im-

possible for it by preventing the accumulation of pools: the surface of the ground is treated to prevent this, and the method of treatment is known as the "scorched earth - ' policy, as the mosquito cannot survive without water. The whole of this region is mapped from the air. so that no pools, ponds, or patches of water can be overlooked;, and the adult niosquitos are sought and killed in the houses with poison sprays. Every ear and plane that leaves in tested areas is fumigated, and every boat is disinfected By the end ol last year the mosquito had been pushed back to the ri\er valleys and the coast, and if it- can be held within its present limits during the wet season of 1940 the army fight" ing it can begin to look forward to its extermination. It will he n tremendous victory against one more, evil thing; but the end is by no means certain yet, for in this war, as in the European war, there are enemies within the ibe chief of these Quislings is the indifference of so many people to the dang® l that threatens all. Thus in one case the mosquito was transported many miles into clean territory by an old broken-down car which used a rough track in the jungle to avoid the fumigation post on the main road, and in another case a small fishing boat carried a mosquito to _ the coast, driving a wedge in tho delence line. But t'ae fight goes on, and the wet season of 19-10 will decide it. On oil® side is the little mosquito Anopheles Gambiae; 011 the other is the famous Rockefeller Foundation with a staff thousands' of trained men. Experts think the Foundation will win. <i n <j good people everywhere will thank God once more for the splendid use Mr. Rockefeller made of his great fortune.