Dengue Fever
p. 22 · Read in the full issue
A PUBLICATION dealing with all aspects of dengue fever has been received from the Sydney University School of Tropical Medicine. It is officially intended for the use of “the clinician, the researcher and the hygien ist.” Written by two Australians, Dr. G F. Lumley and Mr. F. H. Taylor, it stresses the Australian viewpoint. Never theless, it should be of inestimable jyalue in all Pacific Territories where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and dengue are pre valent.
The book is in two parts: Medical, by Dr. Lumley, and Entomological, by Mr.
Taylor. It is pointed out, in the intro duction, that, although the first written record of dengue was given by four French missionaries in the West Indies, in 1635, the disease is not medically well known, owing to the facts that relatively few practitioners have to deal with dengue, and that literature on the sub ject is largely in journals which are not found outside public libraries.
Dengue has often been a paralysing scourge in peacetime; to-day, our war effort could be affected disastrously, both on the home front and in the field, by large-scale epidemics. During the last 21 years there have been three great world epidemics of dengue—one of which occurred in Australia during 1925-26. On that occasion, an estimated 560,000 people developed dengue in Queensland and northern New South Wales.
In the medical section, Dr. Lumley gives a full history of dengue, its geographical distribution, the fullest detailed clinical descriptions of the disease, the part played by mosquitoes in transmitting it and the factors associated with its oc currence in epidemic form. The Ento mological section contains a full descrip tion of the species of mosquitoes concerned, their life-histories and various methods of controlling them.
It is claimed that not onjy can dengue be controlled but that, in Australia, it can be prevented and the vector mos quitoes responsible eradicated.
This publication is not for general sale, but those interested should address all inquiries to the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, University of Sydney.