Scrub Typhus

Cause is Clear But No Remedy in Sight

THE statement in the “PIM” recently that the Sydney School of Tropical Medicine has gone a long way towards finding a serum against the deadly scrub typhus of New Guinea (otherwise known as “Japanese river fever”) has been challenged by two or three people interested in the subject.

They say that the real investigation work is not being done in Sydney, but by the Eliza Hall Institute, in Melbourne; and they state that, although the cause of the disease has been clearly identified as the Trombicula mite, it would be wrong to suggest that any cure or pro tective serum has been discovered or is yet in sight.

The mite is not a tick, but it belongs to the tick family. Its life is in three stages; and it conveys the poison to man only in its larvae stage. Scrub typhus has been identified in Japan, Malaya, Dutch East Indies and New Guinea.