102 



Woodcock (H. M.). Not© on the Epidemiology of Amoebic Dysentery. 

 —Jl R.A.M.G. London, xxxii, no. 3, March 1919, pp. 231-235. 



The possibility of infection with amoebic dysentery through the 

 agency of the common house-fly is fully discussed and compared with 

 other means of transmission. The author does not consider these 

 flies to be a very great factor in the spread of the disease. 



Dudgeon (Col. L. S.). Bacillary Dysentery. — Brit. Med. Jl., London, 

 no. 3041, 12th April 1919, pp. 448-451. 



Experiments conducted by Capt. J. F. Taylor on flies as carriers 

 of bacillary dysentery in Macedonia are referred to. It was found 

 that bacillary dysentery was most prevalent when flies were most 

 numerous, the first outbreak of flies in April and May being immediately 

 followed by a great increase in dysentery in May and June, while the 

 second, in September, October and early November, was accompanied 

 by an increase of equal severity. It was also found that flies after 

 contact with food infected t^ith dysentery bacilli were capable of 

 carrying and disseminating these bacilli for at least 24 hours. Dysen- 

 tery bacilli were isolated from wild flies captured in places in which 

 bacillary dysentery is both endemic and epidemic. 



Acton (W. H.). A Study of the Distribution of Bagdad Boils on the 

 Body made with a View to discover the Transmitting Agent. — 

 Indian Jl. Med, Research, Calcutta, vi, no. 3, January 1919, pp. 

 262-274, 5 figs. [Received 10th April 1919.] 



It has been suspected for a long time that these boils, in which 

 Leishmania tropica is found, are caused by bites from infected insects 

 especially flies. The following blood-sucking Diptera have been 

 under suspicion as carriers in Mesopotamia : Anopheles pulcherrimus, 

 A. sinensis var. mesopotamiae, A. lukisi, Stomoxys calcitrans, Culex 

 fatigans, Stegomyiu fasciata, Phlebotomus papatasii and P. minutus ; 

 of these, three have been studied by the author. 



Stomoxys calcitrans chiefly attacks the legs, but only if covered ; 

 it does not attack bare exposed parts, and although it can bite through 

 a khaki flannel shirt, it will not bite through cotton. 



A. pulcherrimus will bite any part of the body as long as the clothing 

 is thin enough for the proboscis to penetrate, but the bites do not 

 correspond with the distribution of boils. The other mosquitos 

 mentioned are too rare to be of importance as transmitters. 



The author considers the sandfly {Phlebotomus) to be the chief 

 cause of boils in Amara ; it has a peculiar partiality to uncovered 

 hairless areas of the skin and its bites thus correspond with the 

 distribution of the boils. These are rare on the trunk and are twice 

 as common on the arm, which is liable to attack both by day and 

 night, as on the face or leg. 



Haughwout (F. G.). Endemic Malaria in the Philippine Islands as a 

 Military VTohlem.— Philippine Jl. Science, Manila, xiii, no. 6, 

 sec. B, November 1918, pp. 287-309. [Received 10th April 1919.] 



The Nematode, Filaria ba)icrofti, is a blood parasite ranch to be 

 dreaded in the Philippines, as it is transmitted by Oulex fatigans 



