[?]ke-Dwelling Africans
p. 51 · Read in the full issue
Nti-Filaria
Xperiment
[?]ke-Dwelling Africans As Guinea-Pigs
TATIVES of the island of Ukara, I in Lake Victoria, 60 miles from Mwanza, in Tanganyika, are ting as “guinea-pigs” in a new periment, which is the first large ile attempt in Africa to eradicate ; disfiguring disease of filaria. rhe East African Medical Survey d Research Institute is admin jring a pill a month to each of DO island inhabitants. The pills i a specific against elephantiasis.
The small island was chosen for i experiment because of its h incidence of filariasis and phantiasis. Four or five per cent. the adult population have Dhantiasis. Because it is an ated community the people are ikely to move away and affect research, and there is less risk infected people coming in from er areas and upsetting the 4,000 >rds. n Ukara, filariasis is spread by Anopheles mosquito, which, ng an infected person, picks up the blood-meal small worms or rofilariae, which are in the blood
only at night. The microfilariae grow in the body of the mosquito and are thus transferred to another bitten person.
The research team hopes that the drug, which will be given in the first place once a month for a year, will kill all the microfilariae in the population, so that the disease can not spread.
The team experienced difficulty in persuading the people that a pill a month would do this, but co operation has now been obtained.
The work of administering the pills may take a week each month, for not only must every hut be visited, but the visiting team must make quite sure that everyone swallows a pill. Otherwise the experiment would be useless.
The hope is that when the last pill has been swallowed and final blood tests have been taken, in a few years’ time, there will be worth while results to report to the Tanganyika Medical Department, and that it may be possible to say that filaria can be halted by regular small doses of the drug of which the pill is now made.
Filaria extends throughout the tropical region, and the eastern section of the South Pacific Islands is badly affected.
t In an international professional boxing series at Papeete in February between Fiji and Tahiti, Semi Tovolea, middleweight champion of Fiji, heat Ernest Ganivet, middle weight champion of French Oceania, on points, over 10 three-minute rounds. Billy Trafton, former heavyweight champion of French Oceania, beat Henry Bray (Atunaisa Caimabau) former heavyweight champion of Fiji, on points over 10 two-minute rounds. The manager matchmaker was “Tex Gus” (Gus tave F. Spitz), French Oceania box ing promoter.