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the wake of today's WORLD EVENTS
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Resurgence of Disease Epidemics
Killer diseases are on the march again.
A powerful strain of cholera - the "El Tor" type - 1s
infecting large portions of Asia and now threatens arcas in
the Middle East and southcasl Europe. for the first time in
history the disease has spread south of thc Sabara Desert,
with at least 2,000 cases in the west African country of
Guinea. World Health Organization officials are deeply con–
cerned over cholera's "leapfrog" into sanitation-poor black
Africa where it could go on a rampage.
Also in Africa, leprosy has shown a surprising come–
back. Approximately 3.5 million cases have been reported on
the African continent in the last ten years - 50% above
what is normally expected.
On the European continent, rabies - which inflicts one of
the most agonizing deaths known to man - is slowly hut
relentlessly spreading among wildlife.
Schistosomiasis is on the rampage agam in South Chma.
The disease is caused by a tiny liver fluke that enters the body
through cracks or cuts in the skio . The fluke breeds in the
stagnant water of paddies, ponds, and irrigation ditches -
which are everywhere in South China.
In Latín America, an cpidemic of dysentery that has
killed at least 8,000 in Guatemala is spreading through
neighboring Central American countries.
Malaria is another still unconquered ailment. Three dis–
eases alone - malaria, trachoma and schistosomiasis - now
infect 800 million people in undeveloped nations - almost
one fourth the population of the world.
Along with old diseases, new affiictions baffle research–
ers. In northern Nigeria U. S. doctors have discovered what
they term "lassa fever." The virus responsible for the discase
is so virulent that research on it has been stopped.
Even the most medicated country in the world - the
United States - is not exempt from diseases new and old.
Overcrowded cities and crumbling ghetto areas may prove to
be fertile breeding grounds for disease.
After diptheria hit five American cit1es, the U. S. Pub!Jc
Health Service announced that the nation can expect more
"limited outbreaks" in coming months.
Bubonic Plague, the "Black Death" of the Middle Age:.,
is making a comeback in hippie-style communes and ghetto
arcas. California and Ncw Mexico have rcported seven cases
- the highest number for the U. S. since 196.5.
Ghetto arcas of major cities are also experiencing a
resurgence of rubella, which causes congenital defects in
unborn babies. At the same time Dr. Donald Thurston of the
Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis
Children's Hospital reports that polio virus - the dreaded
killer and disabler of the 1950's - "still lurks among us,
and it is entirely possible for it to strike again."
According to a noted tropical medicine authority, the
United States and other advanced countries are ripe for epi–
demJCS of exotic diseases brought in by passeogers on big,
fast-llying jet airliners.
Prof. Brian Maegraith of Britain's University of Liver–
pool says the situation in Europc is already serious, with out-
W/do World
A Chinese youngster winces during cholera inoculation
in Hong Kong. An epidemic of virulen t "El Tor" strain
of cholera had been reported in the crowded Asian
city.
breaks of previously non-existent diseases cropping up •n
many parts of the continent.
What is more, Maegraith and other experts have pointed
out, the average prívate doctor in the United States or north–
ern Europe is utterly unfamiliar with diseases he may be
forced to encounter any day.
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