Facts About Filariasis
p. 30 · Read in the full issue
Are Well Known
Letter to the Editor IN August “PIM” I read with interest of the “great stride in the right direc tion” made in cure of filariasis and elenhantlasis by US Army doctors.
There is little of importance contained in this article which has not been known for about 40 years, and all of the infor mation given (excent reference to the day biting mosouito) plus a great deal more.
Is contained in W. E. Masters’ “Essentials of Tropical Medicine.” published in Lon don 24 years ago. No doubt, many books before that time, and every book on tropical medicine since, has contained the information.
The causal role of the day biting mos quito in filariasis in certain Pacific Islands was worked out by Manson- Bahr, O'Connor and others many years ago and is fully discussed in many edi tions of Manson-Bahr’s book.
While a medical assistant in Papua for a few years I performed dozens of these “amazing” operations, removing great masses of elephantoid tissue from all parts of the body, including scrotums that nearly touched the ground, and the slimming of legs that would not have looked out of place on an elephant, and other operations intended to give relief in certain cases of elephantiasis. I also experimented with elastic and other bandaging treatments, but later abandoned these as impracticable for use with natives.
When I first went to Papua I saw Dr.
P. J. Williams remove a huge elephantoid scrotum from a native of the Mamba dis trict, and while on patrol, a few years later, I contacted this native in his village and found that he had been made the village constable and that he had a young family.
I am, etc.,
Sydney,
E. J. Wright.
(Editorial Note: No doubt Mr. Wright is correct when he says that nothing new on the subject of filariasis came out of the article in July “PIM.” However, not many residents of the Pacific Islands have the advantage of Mr. Wright’s ex pert medical knowledge, and to this majority the article was interesting and informative.) M. Robineau, Noumea’s port director, recently warned navigators of a danger ous submerged rock which has been dis covered in the Uitoe region, about half way between Moro du Sud and an un named reef south-east of Moro.
August 30, 1944.