Reports of the Commission appointed by the Admiralty, the War Office, and the Civil Government of Malta for the investigation of Mediterranean fever / under the supervision of an Advisory Committee of the Royal Society.

Date:
1905-1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Reports of the Commission appointed by the Admiralty, the War Office, and the Civil Government of Malta for the investigation of Mediterranean fever / under the supervision of an Advisory Committee of the Royal Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    times more liable to contract the disease than the men, who are not protected from mosquito bites at all. 7. The Camerata married quarters are surrounded by a dense civil population, amongst whom there must be abundant opportunities for mosquitoes to become infected, yet the incidence of Mediterranean Fever is generally light. 8. A study of the cases that have developed in the Royal Naval Hospital at Bighi, where isolation has been the rule for some years, ■shows that propinquity to the potential sources of infection—i.e., the Mediterranean Fever wards—has had little influence in determining the contraction of the disease, notwithstanding the presence of abundance of mosqiutoes. 9. The evidence given in the naval part of this Report, in connection with docking, also argues against mosquito infection. Sand-flies were much more troublesome than mosquitoes in 1906 in some of the barrack blocks and married quarters. They have a very ^general distribution in Malta and they suck blood voraciously, their bite causing intense irritation, which leads to scratching, and, especially with children, to the formation of nasty-looking sores. If biting insects can convey the disease, the sand-flj' has advantages over the mosquito, as it bites more freely, and nets afi'ord little or no protection. There is no evidence that the disease has been conveyed by it. The same is true of another blood-sucking fly, the Stomoxys calcitrans, although it is known to be able to act as the host of the Micrococcus melitensis for a few days. Bugs and fleas cannot be at present incriminated. Flies.—The possibility of flies being carriers of the specific micro- cocci must be remembered. In goat houses and goat pens flies are often present in enormous numbers. They swarm in milking places which are sodden with goats' milk and urine. They are often abundant in latrines, where they may come in contact with infected urine. Arguing from the analogy of enteric fever, the fly may alight on infected matter, and may carry the cocci on its body or legs to iood, etc. The fly as a carrier of the disease is discussed in connection -with some cases in the West Kent Regiment. Dust.—The disease has been conveyed to healthy animals by ■dust, artificially contaminated. The fact that Micrococcus melitensis is readily killed by exposure to sunlight, and the rapid dilution that must occur when the dust is blowing about under natural conditions, are against dust being a common factor in the spread of the disease. Localised gross contaminations are possible, as, for example, the surfaces of places in regular use for goat milking, which must neces- sarily become sodden with milk and urine, and here the possibilities