NZ Research Team

At Work in Samoa

From Our Own Correspondent APIA, January 11.

A MEDICAL team sent to Western Samoa by the Medical Research Council of New Zealand has com pleted seven weeks’ research on yaws and skin diseases on the small island of Manono.

The research team was headed by a woman scientist, Dr. M. J. Marples, senior lecturer at the Department of Bac teriology, University of Otago. Other mem bers of the team were Dr. Jeffrey Sat chell, entomologist; Mr. Roy Harrison, of the Plant Diseases Division, Auckland, NZ, and Mr. Bacon, bacteriologist. Miss S. Holmes, dietician, undertook a separate study of dietetics in collaboration with the team.

Approximately 800 people on Manono were examined and in some cases ex perimental treatment was given. Mem bers of the team appreciated the ready co-operation of the Manono people and the advice and assistance of the Western Samoan medical staff. Valuable material was obtained and the results will be in cluded in a report which will later be made available to the Medical Department of the Samoan Government.

Professor B. J. Marples, of the De partment of Zoology at the University of Otago, the husband of Dr. Marples, ac companied the team to Samoa and made a study of rats and spiders during the stay of the team. Professor Marples was involved in the recent disastrous crash of the RNZAF Catalina at Faleolo airport when seven airmen lost their lives.

Professor Marples escaped unhurt.