VENOMOUS BITES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24085, 2 October 1941, Page 8

VENOMOUS BITES

SOLDIER'S IMMUNITY EXPERIMENTS IN EGYPT DOCTOR'S INVESTIGATIONS (0.C.) NAPIER, Wednesday Immunitv from the effects of the bites of insects which abound in the tropics makes Second-Lieutenant K. Douglas, of Napier, a member of the Second New Zealand Fxpeditionary Force in Egypt, an interesting subject, for experiments which may result in the discovery of an antidote for venomous bites, and thus give relief to soldiers who suffer so extensively from them. In a letter to his wife in Hastings, Second-Lieutenant Douglas says a doctor where he is camped is making a special study of tropical venomous bites. The doctor happened to hear that Douglas did not suffer from the bites of fleas, mosquitos, sandflies and other insects and that stinging nettle simply had no effect on him. He therefore invited Douglas to visit him, and explained that the insects did actually bite, but that Douglas had something in his blood which rendered the venom harmless. A Scorpion Sting Submitting himself to experiments by the doctor, the officer allowed a sample of about a quarter of a pint of his blood to he taken. With this the doctor is carrying out his investigations. Douglas was also asked il he would be willing to have ,i scorpion sting him on the arm so that the doctor could determine whether he was also immune to stronger venoms. However, the doctor intended carrying out some experiments first, and if, by these, he found there was something in the blood that was not normal, he would then desire to determine the effect of a scorpion sting. "Getting Quite Interested" In his letter Second-Lieutenant Douglas points out that there would be no risk attached to such an experiment, as even the worst scorpion bite causes only severe pain and swelling for about three days. ' The doctor's whole purpose. oi course, is to try and find an antidote to venomous bites which could be administered easily and which will save the inevitable venomous-bite casualties which are always occurring in the tropics," he writes. "1 am getting quite interested, too. The doctor has already whacked my arms and body with stinging nettle, without effect, and he is getting quite enthusiastic. He is at present collecting specimens of the local man-eating brand of mosquito to give them a meal off me."