THE SCOURGE OF MALARIA.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 June 1924, Page 4

THE SCOURGE OF MALARIA.

PI.KA KOI! >11) Kit AI, UKSKABt'II

I.AN DUN, April ?

( •iloiicl Sir Umiahl Boss, guest ol li. mini' at the Overseas League monthly liinchenn, at the Criterion, made :t liu.'si earnest appeal to all present to exert every possible ililluenee to get

everyone to understand the great ne-ccs-ity that exi-ls for expenditure on medical research, lie was speaking primarily about the ravages of the tiins--quilo, which cause so much mortality annually from malaria, and he took the opportunity to emphasise his point by venturing the prediction that one in li a of the people present at the luncheon would have cancer. The matter was a U'lv serious one, but he thought ii could bv solved very quickly by the use of the hast brains that could he bought m this country. Only one million a year was being spent by the whole world on medical research, lie held that the British Kmpirc should lead the way in banishing malaria witnin its hounds. for that would mean freeing the whole world from the

Kir Boiiald said he wanted to get the question of dealing with malaria pressed on iii this country. There had la-en cases here during the war contrailed on the Fast Coast, due to some extent to the returned soldiers. Tho climate ol Kngland was too diabolical evc.i for the mosquito—(laughter—hut many ether countries had them. lie had suggested, in a broadcast message I lie oilier day. I hat lie might gel. a thousand infected mosquitoes and release thorn In the llmiso of Commons ibis would make everybody think of the mosquito ami take slop.. In get rid of it somehow. .More money and

more interest weie needed. .Malaria was a disease known in the ancient Greeks, ami hail coniinued till 10-dav. causing ill-health and many deaths, though the latal eases wore small in proportion to the number at-i.o-koil. In India, with its .'Kill.ooo,ooo

people, it was estimated at one lime thai (here were annually I ~'tl 10,000 deaths from malaria. In the rest of III" world there were Too. I death, a i ear. so that there was an annual moriaiiix ol something like 'J.000.000 from i In- disea-e. They had to multiply that by -A It I or .'toil to gel the number ei wes of malaria in tile woihl. During the war there were lAO.OOO eases on the Salonika Iroitl alone, and now this country wa- paying a "whacking’ mu,,uni lor pensions. (>nlv that morn mg In had eon ni. I v: siiffeier. vinoi. ffe was lev mg to oil e. .Malaria had a verv large political and economical elicit. It rendered large tracts of most fertile c.iiiiitrv not exactly uninhabitable, but very liulieullliy. 11 cxtcndi'd ihreitgli all wiirm countries, and bail |,ecu recorded as lar north as Norway. One would think that a disease ol such impel lmice would lie cal'etully studied bv all leading medical mi'll, bill il wall'll. Very In tie money was being sp"tn, ami knowledge ol tbe matter wa- cliieilv due to private individuals. Si, Hniiald Boss referred to the work of sir Bat rick Malison -on wlm-e i henry that tin* disease wa- carried by tile mosquito he had set to wink—and related how. alter two years id failure, he discovered that the female ailopheies mosquito was tile true eat’l'ii'l of malaria, and thus lotlinl the "key u hit'll enabled Us to open the lock shortly afterward'." When it was discovered, he added, the Government id India moved him away to a place where there was no malaria— laughter) -and for live luonlbs lie could do nothing. They had In‘l to prevent

s::u| i Si-.mi cure. I here w ere thorp malarial parasites in an affected man's !>!• nil tlinn there were inli;tliit:iills of 1 lie elolie. These were mil uerins, lull liny animals : iiiiimle pieces nf jellylike substance. Willi i|iliiii:ie |irii|ie!ly ndmililsti red they eoilld he killed. The yreni puzzle hud heen as in hnw tiicy tint into ihe hliniil. All l lie theyrieliad keen linnet, anil il was only hv a fluke that he found nut mi Attntlsl ■Jl'.th, lS!f7. what uas li:ipix-nin;'. The malarial parasites in llie innsrpiito | tlirew uli' spares, mid these were enrI ried.hy the saliva nf the iiwn i and injeeted into a healthy persuii. The result was the loss nl twn in il lion > nf lives every year: as many a- the lives] hist in the (neat War. Sir r.rnest liireh, wlm was in the '•hair, said tliere were tin mere earnest nil'll in lhe (ivil Service than (ho medical officers wlm went ahrnail nil very small salaries and wnrket! for tlie (■ot ei nmonL. I iit'se men had lor many \ears heen indtleine every olle tn take every possible step in keep the malaria earners away Irom human hahitalinns. It inis inipns.-ihle tn eniitend against malaria it people were careless. 11,. desrrihed the innsrpijtn as an obnoxious oiaisl. and an extraordinary thine;, for it made people do lots nf things they otherwise would nut do and spend much money on nets and devices to try and keep them out—indeed, it had extended trade in many directions. Tts

uoro very evil, tor it hwil in the* (link ami loved stagnant water. *md it was the groat hnghoar ofevorvI’ody vim lived in the same part of the world a- the mosquito. It was the s ‘£" "f K»od wife when there were no mosquitoes in the house—it was the sitiit of an open-handed person who kept his house always open to visitors "hell it was free from the pest. If a man did not entertain and keep his house open a cloud of mosquitoes would arise in it. and so a man’s character could he "autred. (Laughter.! The name ot .Sir Ronald floss would never ho forgotten in medical research.