Tropicalities

Throughout the recent wet season on Nauru, residents patiently suffered a larger-than-usual number of mosquitoes because the Health Department’s spraying programme was suspended in the interests of research undertaken by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

THE school has a thory that the world-wide diseases of filariasis and elephantiasis can best be con trolled not by attempting to eliminate the mosquito which transmits them, but by introducing a parasite which shortens the life of the mosquito from about a month to less than 10 days.

This is too short a period for the organism which causes these human diseases to become active. The parasite is harmful only to the mosquito, so if successfully estab lished, the spread of filariasis can be checked.

It’s been estimated that 200-million people are subject to the effects of filariasis in Africa and Asia, but London University chose Nauru for this particular piece of work because it was known to have a large popula tion of Culex Fatigons, the filariasis carrying mosquito; because the total isolation of the island was useful; and because good conditions for research and the co-operation of local authorities existed.