The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - Volume 18, Issue 3, 1969

This study was undertaken to define the nature and extent of arbovirus activity in the environment of Tucson, Arizona; especial interest was centered in the prevalence of arthropod-borne encephalitis. Field collections of mosquitoes, ticks, birds, and small mammals were made in the selected study areas along the valleys of the Santa Cruz River and the Rillito in or near Tucson. Flocks of sentinel chickens were maintained during the hot seasons in the same areas. The virus of St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) was isolated 12 times from mosquitoes in three separate summer seasons. The virus of Western encephalitis (WE) was recovered in the summer of 1966 in three different lots of mosquitoes. The results of serologic tests on the chickens maintained as sentinels in the study areas confirmed that active transmission of SLE and WE viruses had occurred during the summers that the isolations had been obtained. There was a relative scarcity of Culex tarsalis in the areas studied. The explanation for this is not clear. As a result of this study it appears clear that arthropod-borne encephalitis poses a continuing threat to the population of southern Arizona.

Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes collected in and near Saigon, South Vietnam, during May through December 1967 were tested for arboviruses in LLC-MK2 cell cultures and suckling mice. Thirty strains of dengue viruses were recovered from 46,862 A. aegypti collected in or near homes of patients with dengue hemorrhagic fever. All four dengue serotypes were recovered, with dengue-2 predominating. High infection rates were noted among A. aegypti in some areas, and multiple virus recoveries from the same area occurred frequently. No viruses were recovered from 8,006 Aedes albopictus tested.

An outbreak of St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) occurred in St. Louis County in late summer 1966. Thirteen serologically confirmed or presumptive cases were observed. The most intense SLE-virus activity was in University City, a suburban community of St. Louis, Missouri. A serologic survey conducted 3 months after the outbreak indicated a low level of antibody prevalence among the residents of University City. Most persons with SLE antibody were in the older age groups. A serologic survey conducted in a nearby community that had no reported encephalitis cases revealed antibody patterns similar to those observed in University City. Four cases of central-nervous-system infection that were investigated were related to Coxsackie virus A9 and two to herpes simplex.

The failure to detect yellow fever-virus antibody in baboons known to have been previously vaccinated suggested an attempt to explain this finding. Accordingly, a study was initiated to test baboon and human serum specimens before and after vaccination for the presence of yellow fever neutralizing antibody, two different preparations of vaccine for determination of antibody being employed. Neutralization tests in mice were employed with 1:5 serum dilutions. The results indicated that good immunologic responses are obtained if the vaccine is handled and used according to specifications. Failures in vaccination arise in the field presumably as a result of mishandling of this highly labile material.

This paper is the result of an analysis of a publication by Muñoz, Pérez, and Scrimshaw in this Journal and of another by the same authors. The former lists the findings in 22 entire departments in Guatemala; the latter, the observations in each of the 105 localities in which the survey was conducted. It notes several inconsistencies and errors in the first paper and concludes that the statement (p. 966): “The incidence of endemic goiter in Guatemala does show a definite correlation with altitude” is contradicted by the facts.

The third paragraph opens with: “A total of 39,484 persons of all 22 departments of the country were examined of whom 70 per cent were school children, 2 per cent pre-school children and 28 per cent adults.”

The total examined, as arranged by sex and age on page 965 is not 39,484 but 39,777 (Table 1) or 39,767 (Table 2), of whom 65.4% were from 0 to 12 years old, 23.3% from 13 to 18, and 11.3% of 19 years or more.

Employing a bacteriologic medium in which the sole nitrogen source was the organic molluscicide. Bayluscide,® isolations were made of organisms from more than 40 field and laboratory sites in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, and Venezuela. Materials were subcultured four times, then selected strains isolated from the snail Biomphalaria glabrata were subjected to standard diagnostic procedures. In all, six different bacterial strains were identified as members of the genus Pseudomonas and two as members of the genus Aerobacter. Distribution of molluscicide-utilizing bacteria was practically universal, being found in water, sediment, and snail intestinal contents. Bacteria were associated with 15 species of mollusk tested for the presence of such organisms. The possible significance of molluscicide-degrading organisms, relative to snail control projects, is discussed.

This book is a translation by F. K. Plous of the Proceedings of the 4th Conference on Natural Nidality of Diseases in Kazakhstan and the Republics of Middle Asia, held in the Institute of Zoology at Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, U.S.S.R. on 15–20 September 1959. It begins, appropriately, with a concise review of the scope of the subject by Academician E. N. Pavlovsky, who began a long series of important contributions to the ecology of the zoonoses in 1939 and was the first to use the word “nidality” in this context. Among other ideas, Pavlovsky discusses the possibility that viruses are altered by natural transmission sequences through various hosts. He also pays tribute to workers in other parts of the world and is especially complimentary to Czech and Chinese workers for their methodical contributions. The second contribution is also a review by I. G. Galuzo.

This volume of the British Medical Bulletin contains a brief introduction by J. A. B. Gray, 15 articles on various aspects of computing in medicine, and a glossary of terms. There has been no attempt to cover all aspects of the problem, but rather to give authoritative accounts in a few carefully chosen areas. In particular, the committee that planned this Bulletin decided to leave out from consideration the administrative aspects of the medical services.

The first paper, by L. C. Payne, considers the basic principles of computer technology. The computer can receive, store, select, evaluate, and transmit information—features that are characteristic of the cerebral cortex. Whereas historically machines have been principally concerned with deploying muscle power more effectively, the computer augments cerebral functions. With its help an untrained person can do things that otherwise entail trained cerebral activity. This theme is again taken up in a later article by I. D. P. Wootten, where examples are given from the biochemistry laboratory.

Here is a book on statistical method intended for the medical student and physician. The author acknowledges in the preface that the illustrations used will cause medical experts to shudder, and that, to make the concepts easily understood, he has taken liberties “which would make theoretical statisticians cringe, advanced applied statisticians cower, and pure mathematicians … pretend the book does not exist.” The sad thing about this book is not so much that these liberties have been taken, but that the result will so often still leave the reader perplexed and bewildered.

The first chapter introduces the subject by discussing general topics, using terms that are not defined until much later in the book—“as a result some points made in this chapter may not be fully understood.” This is hardly the way to introduce statistics to the beginner. The author repeats the same mistake, probably unwittingly, later on in the book—terms such as probability sample and normal curve are used long before they are explained.

This is a monograph presented by the author as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Medicine given to him by the University of Natal in 1965. The book consists of 207 pages including an extensive table of contents covering the preface, eight chapters, a résumé, a bibliography, and 121 figures. Each chapter has many tables.

The purpose of this study was to correlate the disease processes produced by Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni and to assess the lesions produced in relation to morbidity and mortality. This study compares the manifestation of the disease in a local population compared with the findings in other major endemic areas. The Europeans and Indians, most of whom are second- and third-generation in Africa, provided a setting for a comparative study of the effect of schistosomiasis in different races; however, it was not possible to investigate the Europeans in this particular study.

To the Editor:

I am indebted to Dr. David Sencer for a prepublication copy of his Charles Franklin Craig Lecture entitled “Health Protection in a Shrinking World.” Dr. Sencer's recommendations regarding yellow fever are of such grave import that I hasten to comment on them, hoping for simultaneous publication. As one who made his first yellow fever field trip in Brazil in 1920 while General William C. Gorgas was still director of The Rockefeller Foundation's campaign for the eradication of yellow fever, and as one who participated for many years in the study and prevention of yellow fever, I cannot remain silent in the face of these surprising proposals. Especially is it important to state that the words of the Director of the National Communicable Disease Center of the Public Health Service do not necessarily constitute a declaration of official policy of the United States Government.