189 



Legislation to prevent the introduction of Fowl Ticks into Australia. 



— CoiiimonweaJfh of Australia Gazette, uo. 57, IGtli August 

 1913. 



The importation of fowls from Asia and the East Indies into 

 the Northern Territory of Australia is prohibited by proclama- 

 tion, owing" to the danger of introducing fowl ticks and other 

 pests or diseases. 



Tick-bite. — Joum. Trap. Med. t)- Hyy., London, 16th June 1913, 

 pp. 188-189. 



Epitomising- contributions by Eaton, Cleland and others to the 

 " Australasian Medical Gazette." the Journal describes the 

 symptoms of a g-irl aged 4^, in whom a bite of Lvodes ricitnis or 

 /. holocyclus was followed by a widespread transitory muscular 

 paralysis ; adding that bites of ticks causing severe, and sometimes 

 fatal, intoxication in the human subject have been recorded on 

 other occasions in Australia, the symptoms greatly resembling 

 those of conium poisoning. These bites often also cause the 

 death of lambs and dogs, muscular paralysis first affecting- the 

 limbs, and death from respiratory paralysis ensuing. The source 

 of the poison has not been e.stablished, but it is believed not to be 

 pre-formed in the glands of the tick. 



Bellile (P.). Etude sur la Fievre des Phlebotomes. [A study of 

 Phlebotomus fever.] — ArcJiiv. Med. ty Phannacie Navales, 

 Paris, July 1913, pp. 5-39, 5 tables, 3 figs. 



After reviewing the observations made in various parts of the 

 world with regard to pappataci fever and Phlebotomus papatasii. 

 Scop., from Pyiie's discovery in 1804 onwards, the author goes 

 on to describe his own experiences in Suda Bay in 1910-1912, 

 during the dry summer season extending from the middle of May 

 to the end of September, which confirm the results obtained by 

 Kilroy. The fever was not confined to the island at the entrance 

 to the bay, for there were several cases among the natives in 

 Suda village, where the mess cook of the French warship 

 " Amiral Charnier " and his wife were also attacked, while two 

 French sailors at the arsenal and a Cretan doctor were among 

 those who took the fever elsewhere. The Italian bluejackets who 

 landed on the island and who were provided with nets, invariably 

 remained immune. The author suggests portable nets to cover 

 the exposed parts of the body after nightfall, and netting on all 

 openings in buildings ; but in either case the network must be 

 much finer for Phlebotomus than for mosquitos. The fact that 

 the illness is only found during the dry season, and that the 

 larvae hide in the crevices of walls exposed to the sun, points to 

 the watering of such crevices as a means of destroying the insects. 

 The Italian sailors landed from one vessel are said to have 

 smeared their bodies with petroleum ointment that the smell 

 might drive the insects away. Fumigation is a palliative of small 

 efficacy. 



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