The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - Volume 4, Issue 5, September 1955

The following cure rates were achieved in Ascaris lumbricoides infections with piperazine citrate syrup: one day treatment, 74 per cent; two days, 94 per cent. A five day course with smaller daily doses but a larger total amount gave a cure rate of 91 per cent. A minor toxic side effect, possibly due to the drug, was observed in only one of 136 patients.

A case of intestinal myiasis due to larvae of Muscina stabulans (Fallén) was observed in a child from Laramie, Wyoming. This is believed to be the second reported case from North America.

The Rural Hospital, Its Structure and Organization. (Also available in French). By Dr. R. F. Bridgman, 162 pp., illustrated. WHO monograph series No. 21. Geneva, World Health Organization; 1955. $4.00, £1, Sw. fr. 12. (clothbound). Distributed by Columbia University Press, 2960 Broadway, New York 27, N. Y.

Malaria, A World Problem, by E. J. Pampana, M.D., and P. F. Russell, M.D., M.P.H., 72 pp., illustrated. (Reprinted from Chronicle of the WHO, 1955, 9:31–100) Geneva, WHO, 1955. 3/6, $0.70, Sw. fr. 2. (paper).

The Halogenated Aliphatic, Oletinic, Cyclic, Aromatic, and Aliphatic-Aromatic Hydrocarbons Including the Halogenated Insecticides, Their Toxicity and Potential Dangers, by W. F. von Oettingen, M.D., Ph.D., National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. Public Health Service Publication No. 414. 430 pp. Washington, Supt. of Documents, U. S. Govt. Printing Office. 1955. $2.50.

The Anemias, with Supplement on Blood Morphology in Diagnosis. Publ. by Eli Lilly & Co., 4th Edition: 132 pp., Indianapolis, Eli Lilly & Co., 1955.

In connection with the dedication of the Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University, June 7, 1954, a symposium of 13 eminent experts attempted to analyze the present and future aspects of microbiology. They succeeded admirably, and the chapters dealing with the microbe as a living system (Cornelius B. Van Niel, André Lwoff, Joshua Lederberg and Bernard D. Davis), metabolism of microorganisms (H. A. Barker, Jackson W. Foster, Wayne W. Umbreit, Perry Wilson and Durey H. Peterson) and microorganisms and higher forms of life (Michael Heidelberger, Frank L. Horsfall, Jr., Harry Eagle and Robert L. Starkey) are critical appraisals of present-day knowledge presented in a very readable form and well documented by numerous references. For quick orientation in these rapidly moving fields, the nonspecialist will receive great satisfaction by reading the entire collection of contributions. To the student confronted with problems of tropical medicine the chapters “Some Unsolved Problems in Immunology”, “The Inhibition of Virus Reproduction by Chemical Substances” and “Challenging Problems in Antibiotic Research” will doubtless be most interesting and informative.

This volume covers the diseases caused by protozoa, helminths, arthropods, fishes, reptiles and certain mammals. Arthropods as vectors of disease are discussed in detail. There is a section on parasitologic and immunologic diagnostic tests. Useful, well-organized, brief tables summarize: 1. the natural history of the more important protozoan and helminthic parasites of man; 2. pathologic effects and clinical manifestations produced by animal agents of disease; 3. diagnostic examination for animal agents of disease; 4. standard therapeutic procedures. The text material is well-organized and is supplemented by excellent drawings and photographs. Unfortunately the illustrations of the malaria parasites are in black and white rather than in color. The bibliography is complete, current and includes many of the more important contributions. This excellent textbook, written by a master parasitologist, will prove especially valuable to medical students. Physicians, graduate students in soology and parasitology, laboratory technologists, and public health workers will also find this volume very useful.

This is a most worthwhile book dealing with diseases transmissible from animals to man. The authors of the various chapters are well-known investigators in their particular fields, distinguished for their firsthand knowledge concerning the diseases upon which they write. The book thus bears an authoritative tone assuring the reader that the information it contains is accurate, complete and exhaustive. It should be of interest and value to public health and research workers and to both veterinarians and physicians. Furthermore, it should appeal to those interested in the natural history of disease and in the broader aspects of epidemiology. This fourth edition contains chapters dealing with seven diseases not covered in the third edition and most of the other chapters have been modernized and brought up-to-date. The summaries concluding each chapter are extremely helpful in making it possible rapidly to scan the book for items of interest. By and large, Dr. Hull has done a noteworthy job of selecting the diseases for inclusion in this book and most of them are of bonafide importance in human medicine.

This map furnishes comprehensive information on a variety of subjects related to the geographical distribution of visceral, cutaneous and muco-cutaneous leishmaniasis. Centered above on its face is a Briesemeister elliptical projection of the world, showing (in red) different population densities, while the prevailing winds in areas of high frequency of these diseases are indicated by green arrows. Below there is an enlargement of the countries in which the infections are indigenous, with two degrees of density for each (in black for visceral, in red for cutaneous, and in green for muco-cutaneous leishmaniasis). Greater enlargements are found for the Middle and Near East, the countries bordering on the western Mediterranean, and Peru. Additional data include “spotting” with the letter “R” of regions where reservoir hosts have been reported, and names of the species of Phlebotomus proved or believed to be the vectors are recorded near the sites where they have been collected.

The authors, who are specialists in infectious diseases and in ophthalmology respectively, present an inclusive and up to date review of toxoplasmosis. They discuss in detail the biology of the organism, clinical aspects of human infection and disease, immunology, pathology, differential diagnosis, diagnostic tests, prognosis, therapy, epidemiology and animal hosts. Even to readers only moderately familiar with Italian this review can be most useful since it brings together in accessible form the contributions of 500 authors from Europe, America and elsewhere. The accuracy of reporting is high and adequate in detail, the approach in general quite critical, and the conclusions practical and sensible. Mention is also made of observations and of clinical entities ascribed to toxoplasmosis, but of doubtful nature. The illustrations are generally adequate. The author index and literature cited are very helpful. Readers of Italian should feel fortunate to have available such an extensive and discriminating monograph on toxoplasmosis.

Upon inspection of the Table of Contents and upon noting the types of diseases covered, the question arises as to the purpose and the need for a book encompassing the field described in the title. In the Foreword, it is pointed out that viral and rickettsial infections which involve the skin, the eye, and mucous membranes are common and that “some of them are banal and merely troublesome; others may produce exceedingly chronic and disabling destructive effects upon the skin and mucous membranes; and still others produce cutaneous lesions which are incidental but important signs of systemic disease”. The underlying thread that ties together the diversity of conditions covered in the book is, therefore, the emphasis on ocular, dermal and mucous membrane manifestations and not on the specialty of the practitioner most likely to see the patient.This unifying theme is suggested in the preface, where it is stated that "there is lacking in the presently available literature on viruses and rickettsiae any complete and detailed consideration of many of those diseases that affect primarily the covering of the body, the skin and conjunctive or the mucosa of the external officers.

Each new edition of the American Public Health Association manual on Control of Communicable Diseases in Man is an event in the public health world. The eighth edition has been prepared by a committee of fifteen outstanding authorities in the field, with the collaboration of the principal American and British health organizations, which designated representatives to consult with the committee in order to reach common agreement as to facts and opinions. The aim is to provide an informative text for easy reference by public health workers, professionals in the medical field, military physicians, and health workers stationed in foreign countries. The format and its pocket-size add to its usefulness; it does not of course substitute for standard textbooks. While it largely expresses American practices and ideas, it has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Finnish, which should give it a wider usefulness.

To the Editor:

John Ruskin once said: “The work of science is to substitute facts for appearance, and demonstrations for impressions.” It might well be added that “when an impression has once been given expression, it is frequently quoted long after it has been disproved by facts.”

It seems unfortunate that in an attempt to honor the workers in Panama (Minton, Muller, and Cohen, Am. J. Trop. Med. & Hyg., 3: 951–963, 1954), honors which they richly deserve, errors have been perpetuated, some of which have long since been corrected by the workers who published them. I quote from the above article: “Following Darling's studies which showed the rat to be a disseminator of relapsing fever in Panama and the work of Lawrence Dunn on the tropical bedbug in relation to its transmission, Bates and St. John in collaboration with Dunn proved by human experimentation that the human tick, Ornithodoros talaje, is the transmitting agent of the relapsing fever in Panama and produced evidence to show that the relapsing fever spirochete (Borrelia) of Panama is a distinct species for which they later suggested the name, Spirochaeta neotropicalis.”