CANCER & COCKROACHES.

Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16545, 14 July 1925, Page 6

CANCER & COCKROACHES.

DR. SAMBON'S GERM THEORY.

MEDICAL DOUBTS

Sir James Cantiie, a well-known parasitologist, makes remarkable claims, which will arouse much interest, in his "foreword" to a book recently published, and reviewed below, dealing with cancer and with certain investigations carried out'by Hr. L. W. Sambon, lecturer in the London School of Tropical Medicine. Sir James says that owing to Dr. Sambon's researches "two important facts stand out: (1) cancer is a parasitic disease; (2) the control of cancer is within our reach." These claims are not widely admitted in the medical profession. On the contrary, it is maintained that this theory of the origin of cancer as being due to a parasite is not new, but is based on the researches of the Danish, biologist Fihiger, who ten years ago published the results of experiments which suggested that cancer in rats is caused by a parasite which infests cockroaches.

Fibiger's views may have some basis of fact, but they are not yet generally accepted. They are still subject to test and examination, and may be proved or disproved.

Pests that Nurse the Germ.

"New Cancer Facts," by D. Masters Foreword by Sir James Cantiie.

This book is written in a clear and interesting style. It does not reject irritajflon as a factor in cancer, but it contends "that parasites play their part in the disease, and that the germs may be one of those minute organisms that remain invisible under a microscope and even pass through scientific filters."

After describing. Dr. Sambon's work in tracing other diseases to parasites, Mr Masters states: "He knew that the best place in which to study a disease, was where it occurred, so he determined to examine the homes of the people who were dying of cancer, the conditions in which they lived, their surroundings, anything and everything, in fact, which might shed a little light on the disease." He investigated certain places in the Italian Romagna and in Iceland, where cancer is peculiarly prevalent, and where there was cancer found in profusion signs of "rats, mice, blackbeetles, cellar beetles, meal-worms, meal-moths, and meal mites. . . Wherever the trail of cancer was most marked there were the pests. . . There were some distinct, links—tiny parasitic worms that begin life in either the cockroache, the meal worm, or the cellar beetle and mature in rats and mice." More, in the one district of Iceland which is free from cancer Dr. Sambon found I hat "no rats, mice oi' cockroaches have ever been seen. The lava and turf-built collages were \'vcc of those household pests. - ' If it proves thai the cockroach theory is correct, then obviously cancer can be controlled by gelling rid of these loathsome insecls. But a word of warning is necessary. l{. is not yet proved. Dr. Sambon on His Work.

Dr. Sambon's own view is interesting and important. He refused to discuss his work further, beyond pointing out that he made no claim to the discovery of the cause of cancer, nor did ho assert that blackbeetles and rats were the sole contributory causes. His theory was that cancer was probably caused by a parasite which only became active when the human flesh was prepared for its activities by another agency, a worm which lives in rats, mice, cockroaches, and the like, and is transferred to human beings by the contamination of food. In the human being it sets up conditions necessary for the activity of the cancer parasite.