26 DDT — Killer of Killers 



we account for the fact that some diseases flare up in different 

 parts of the country at about the same time or within a very 

 short time? To attribute this to human carriers doesn't seem 

 logical, for often remote localities that haven't encountered 

 an outsider in months are no safer than populous cities to 

 which visitors come every day from all parts of the country. 

 And why is it that many diseases flourish only in the summer- 

 time and subside with the return of cold weather? Logic 

 tells us that the relationship between warm weather, inseas, 

 and certain diseases is more than a mere coincidence. 



In the summer of 1946, a poliomyelitis epidemic swept 

 the country — the worst epidemic since 1916. A disease of 

 unknown origin was again on the rampage. Although the 

 total number of deaths from polio is not large compared to 

 the deaths from other diseases, the mysterious nature of this 

 pestilence plus the fact that it leaves many of its victims 

 cripples for the rest of their lives, make it probably the most 

 dreaded disease in America today. In the case of polio it is 

 difficult, indeed, to attribute the spread of the disease to direct 

 transmission of the virus from one person to another. Since 

 polio and flies flourish at the same time, many students of 

 the disease have suspected that flies are the transmitting 

 agents. There is no direct evidence of this as yet, but the 

 virus of polio has been found in flies, and the disease has been 

 transmitted from flies to experimental animals. But this 

 still leaves the question of where the disease lurks during the 

 winter months. Is it possible that animals, or perhaps birds, 

 harbor the disease in an unrecognizable form, and that flies 

 pick up the virus from the stools of these carriers and trans- 

 port it to the food of prospective victims? Is the fly respon- 

 sible for the spread of the various dysenteries that masquerade 

 under the quaint name of "intestinal flu"? It's possible! 



