AJTMH HINARI
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 8(3), 1959, pp. 372-396
Copyright © 1959 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schaeffer, M.
Right arrow Articles by Eichenwald, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Schaeffer, M.
Right arrow Articles by Eichenwald, H.

Epidemic Jungle Fevers Among Okinawan Colonists in the Bolivian Rain Forest

I. Epidemiology

Morris Schaeffer*, D. Carleton Gajdusek{dagger}, Antonio Brown Lema{ddagger} AND Heinz Eichenwald§
U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Virus and Rickettsia Section, Montgomery, Alabama and Communicable Disease Center, Atlanta, Georgia; National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D. C.; Servicio Cooperative Interamericano de Salud Publica, La Paz, Bolivia

An epidemic of jungle fever which involved almost one-half of 400 Okinawan pioneers who were attempting to settle in the jungle rain-forest of the Bolivian lowlands adjacent to the Brazilian Matto Grosso is described. Fifteen of the cases ended fatally.

A new virus, one of the Group A arthropod-borne viruses, serologically related to Semliki Forest virus, has been isolated from the blood of two of the patients. This, the Uruma virus, was responsible for 10 to 15% of the cases of jungle fever; the etiology of the remaining cases remains undetermined. Serological survey of indigenous communities reveals that this virus or a serologically related agent is endemic to the region. The Semliki Forest-Uruma-Mayaro-Chikungunja serological group of agents appears to be a world-circling group of tropical Group A arthropod-borne viruses pathogenic for man.

The problem of jungle fever, or pyrexias of unknown origin, in similar attempts of nonindigenous populaces to clear and settle in tropical jungle, and the problem of multiple etiology of any epidemic that develops among them, are discussed.


* Director, Virus and Rickettsia Section, Communicable Disease Center, U. S. Public Health Service, P. O. Box 61, Montgomery, Alabama.


{dagger} Presently, Visiting Scientist, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.


{ddagger} Servicio Cooperative Interamericano de Salud Publica, La Paz, Bolivia.


§ Present address: Department of Pediatrics, Cornell Medical Center, New York Hospital, New York.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Am J Trop Med HygHome page
A. M. POWERS, P. V. AGUILAR, L. J. CHANDLER, A. C. BRAULT, T. A. MEAKINS, D. WATTS, K. L. RUSSELL, J. OLSON, P. F. C. VASCONCELOS, A. T. DA ROSA, et al.
GENETIC RELATIONSHIPS AMONG MAYARO AND UNA VIRUSES SUGGEST DISTINCT PATTERNS OF TRANSMISSION.
Am J Trop Med Hyg, September 1, 2006; 75(3): 461 - 469.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1959 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.