90 



King (W. V.). Anopheles pundipennis, a Host of Tertian Malaria. — 

 Amer. Jl. Trop. Lis & Prev. Med., New Orleans, iii, no. 8, February 

 1916, pp. 426-432, 1 plate. 



The matter in this paper has ah-eady been dealt with [see this Review, 

 Ser. B, iv, p. 53]. 



SiLER (J. F.). Medical Notes on Jamaica. Part I : General Information 

 Concerning Jamaica. Its Prevailing Diseases. — Amer. Jl. Trop. 

 Dis. & Prev. Med., New Orleans, iii, no. 8, February 1916, 

 pp. 433-458. 

 In Jamaica, malaria ranks highest among the prevailing diseases. 

 The north-eastern side of the island is given largely to the cultivation 

 of bananas and the Superintending Medical Office has expressed the 

 opinion that the cultivation of bananas and malaria go hand in hand, 

 and that the necessary trenching required in banana culture furnishes 

 excellent breeding places for mosquitos. Practically all admissions 

 to hospitals for malaria from the north-eastern portion of the island 

 are labourers from the banana estates. The highest admission rate 

 occurs in December and it is during this month that the rainfall is 

 greatest. The malaria-transmitting moscjuitos of Jamaica are 

 Anopheles alhimanus, Wied. (aestivo-autumnal and tertian), 

 A. argyrotarsis, R.D. (aestivo-autumnal and tertian), A. crucians, 

 Weid. (aestivo-autumnal), A. grabhami, Theo., and A. vestitipennis, 

 D. & K. A. alhimanus is the principal carrier. A. crucians, though 

 common in the United States, appears to be rare in Jamaica. The 

 relationship of A. grabhami and A. vestitipennis to the transmission of 

 malaria is not definitely known. Malaria prophylaxis is not practised 

 systematically. Some mosquito control work — draining and oiling — • 

 has been undertaken in different parts of the island, but no systematic 

 work on a large scale has been carried out. The dense undergrowth, 

 the large banana estates and the abundance of water, make this type 

 of work prohibitive under prevailing economic conditions. 



Culex fatigans {quinquefasciatiis), the transmitting agent of filariasis, 

 has a fairly wide distribution in the island and the absence of the disease 

 may be due to the fact that a sufficient number of cases have not been 

 introduced. If this be not the case, it is due to some unknown factor 

 which would merit further investigation. 



SiLER (J. F.). Medical Notes on Jamaica. Part II : Pellagra in 

 Jamaica.' — Amer. Jl. Trop. Dis. & Prev. Med., New Orleans, iii, 

 no. 9, March 1916, pp. 481-502, 2 figs, 1 sketch-map. 

 The presence of pellagra in Jamaica in endemic form in but two 

 places^ — the Lunatic Asylum and the Manning Home — its rarity in 

 the district almshouses and the inability of the author and his com- 

 panions to find it among the general population are very suggestive 

 of a low-grade infection in which poor nutrition plays an important 

 part as a predisposing factor. The hypothesis that this disease is 

 transmitted by Simulium does not appear to be supported by obser- 

 vations made in Jamaica. The nearest possible breeding places of 

 Simulium were about four miles distant from the Asylum and from 

 about ten to fifteen miles in the case of the Home. No Simulium were 

 seen near these institutions and enquiry failed to elicit any information 

 suggestive of their presence. 



