CURING INSANITY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4887, 7 October 1925, Page 1

CURING INSANITY.

BITES FROM MOSQUITOES. EXPERIMENTS ON PATIENTS. Malaria mosquitoes are now being used at an Epsom mental hospital' to infect patients suffering from general paralysis of the insane, states the Westminster “Gazette.” It is claimed that the shock of malaria acts on the organisms in the spine and brain that are responsible for paralysis, destroys their virulence, and in many cases has the effect, it is claimed, of restoring the patient’s sanity. Infection is conveyed through the bite of the mosquito. The method employed is as follows : — The patient is taken into a special room having double doors affid windows. The room contains no crevice in which an infected mosquito could be lost. An expert releases the mosquitoes one by one from a special box. After the patient has been inoculated the mosquitoes are caught—a task involving much patience—and counted back into the recepticle. The patient, after the usual period of incubation, develops malerial fever, for which.he is treated in the ordin-, ary way. It is claimed that men and women who otherwise would have died insane have been restored mentally, and some are able to follow their occupations. The treatment was discovered accidentally. A short time ago malaria broke out among the patients, of a mental hospital in Southern Europe. When the fever passed it was found that the insane sufferers had regained their sanity. Subsequent investigation showed that the malaria germ reacted on general paralysis of the insane.

The treatment, incidentally, is furnishing malarial experts with new data, and may eventually lead to the discovery of an anti-malaria specific more effective than quinine. For example, the exact period of incubation is; now known. It has been found, moreover, that the bite'of one mosquito is as potent in producing the fever as the bite of a hundred.

Malaria research workers throughout the world are watching the experiment with intense interest.

Sir Ronald Ross, consultant in malaria at the Ministry of Pensions, in an interview with the Westminster “Gazette” said: —

“The malaria .teratment . itself should not have any harmful atfereffects. The .treatment is under complete control with quinine.

“Although good results have been obtained in various parts of the country the cure is still regarded as in the experimental stage,; and will have to be tried over a long period.”