| OCR Text |
Show HUMAN LIFE . UNHEALS Some Facts About Malaria by L. O. Howard, Ph. D, Entomologist and Chief Buroau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture It Is a notlcenblo fact thnt In most parts of tho world where antlmos qulto measures havo been undertaken on a largo scalo tbo work has been dono with tho direct end of doing nway with tho mosquito borno diseases. dis-eases. In tho United States, however, such antl mosquito work ns hns been undertaken un-dertaken has almost Invariably been dono with tho direct inceutlvo of si in ply ridding communities or localities from a crcat nulsnnco. Almost tbo only oxcoptlon bas been tho work of Dr. Doty, tho health officer of-ficer of New York on Statcn Island. Thoro arc, howover, many localities locali-ties In tho United States, whoro ma larla Is provalent and somo In which tho oxlstence of tho dlscaso In an aggrnvnted form Is n sorlous barrier to agricultural and Industrial development. devel-opment. It hns been shown for example, that agriculturally speaking, tho lands of tbo dolta region of tho Mississippi Mis-sissippi and adjoining states nro the richest In tho wholo world, with tho posslblo oxcoptlon of the delta of tho Nlla. Yet on account of tho oxtraordin ary provalcnca of malaria in this region, re-gion, it Is Bparsely settled and land prices nro low. Tho ndvanco of tho cotton ball weevil wee-vil into this section has had its cits ternary effect of driving a consldo'-nblo consldo'-nblo proportion of tho negro labor Into other regions not yet Invaded, and unless tho country Is to becorao Impoverished, It will bo necessnry to Import white Jabor. Negroes nro moro or less resistant to malaria but this will not bo truo of tbo white labor la-bor comlnc into this rogion. . which will undoubtedly beconio rapidly Infected In-fected with tho disease Malaria Is not a difficult dlseaso to fight. This lias been shown In many parts of tho world In Italy, Cuba, Panama, In West Africa, in India, in Egypt nnd clsowhcro. People genorally should know tho oxnet truth about tho disenso and what Is to bo dono. Tho efforts of tho Individuals, nftor nf-tor thoy havo acquired tho proper knowledge, will havo an effect upon tho mnlnrln rate, whllo with n general gener-al knowledge of thoso facts, community com-munity work must como sooner or later. In tbo mntorlal to follow, tho stato-monts stato-monts regarding tho disenso itself aro imrtly drawn, with permission of tho Amoilcan publishers, from an admlrablo summary propared by Dr. Ronald Ross, of tho Liverpool School of Tropical Modiclno. Dr. Ross was tho first discovered of tho relation between malaria and mosquitoes, something over twolvo years ngo in India. v His results wero Boon confirmed by workers in many parts of tho world nnd tho Btatoments hereafter mado ore accepted by tho best physicians of all countries. Tho dlseaso known as malaria or fovor and nguo or chills and fover, or marsh fovor and tho varieties called call-ed Intermittent fover, remittent fevor nnd pernicious fovor, aro caused by parasites In tho blood which feed on tho red blood colls. |
