September 16, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



249 



SPOROZOAN INFECTION 



To THE Editor of Science: I have just de- 

 tected, in an American recently arrived in the 

 Philippine Islands from the United States, a 

 case of infection with Isospora hominis Ri- 

 volta, 1878 (emend Dobell, 1919). Circum- 

 stances connected with the case lead me 

 strongly to suspect that the infection was con- 

 tracted in the United States. Inspection of 

 the recent literature has disclosed that since 

 1918, at least eleven cases of sporozoan infec- 

 tion (including Isospora) have been discovered 

 in the United States. Four of these cases ap- 

 parently are autochthonous. They will be 

 found in the tables accompaning papers by 

 Kofoid and his coworkers,^' ^ on the examina- 

 tion of overseas and home service troops in 

 New York. These findings have escaped com- 

 ment for one reason or another and, as the 

 patient studied by me has never been in any 

 part of Europe — much less the Eastern Medi- 

 terranean area where coccidial infections seem 

 to be endemic, I consider we have reason to 

 suspect that dissemination of the parasite is 

 occurring among the civilian population of the 

 United States. 



We have little knowledge of the clinical 

 manifestations of " human coccidiosis " and 

 no knowledge of its pathology. Reports indi- 

 cate that the parasite is not especially harmful 

 to adults, but too much should not be assumed 

 in this direction. Especially should we be 

 watchful for infections in children and in 

 people of lowered vitality. The cysts of the 

 coccidia are highly resistant to desiccation, and 

 to the action of chemicals and disinfectants, 

 and they remain viable for long periods of 

 time — much longer than do the cysts of other 

 intestinal protozoa infesting man, so that the 

 parasite presents a difficult problem in epi- 

 demiology. 



All available information should be gath- 

 ered at this time, regarding the incidence of 

 human coccidiosis in the United States, for it 



1 Kofoid, Kornhauser and Plate, Jour. Amer. 

 Med. Assoc, Vol. 72, p. 1721, 1919. 



2 Kofoid and Swezy, N. 0. Med. and Surg. Jour., 

 Vol. 73, pp. 4-11, 1920. 



may be possible to trace the cases originating 

 in the soldiers already observed, and other cases 

 that it is not unlikely have originated from 

 them by this time. Such studies can not begin 

 too early. With the object of aiding such an 

 investigation, I am, by authority of Professor 

 Elmer D. Merrill, director of the Bureau of 

 Science, sending preserved material from our 

 case to the following specialists, where it will 

 be available for comparison with any material 

 that may be found in the United States : 



Professors Gary IST. Calkins, Columbia Uni- 

 versity, New York; Robert W. Hegner, Johns 

 Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; Henry 

 B. Ward, University of Illinois, Urbana, 111.; 

 Charles A. Kofoid, University of California, 

 Berkeley, Calif.; R. B. Gibson, Iowa State 

 University, Iowa City, la.; Ernest E. Tyzzer, 

 Harvard University Medical School, Boston, 

 Mass. ; Kenneth M. Lynch, Medical College of 

 the State of South Carolina, Charleston, S. C. ; 

 James C. Todd, University of Colorado, Boul- 

 der, Colo. ; Mark F. Boyd, University of Tesas, 

 Galveston, Tex. ; and Allen J. Smith, Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania. 



Frank G. Haughwout 



BuBEAtr OF Science, 

 Manila, P. I. 



scientific literature and apparatus 



FOR ROUMANIA 



To THE Editor of Science: You were so 

 kind as to publish in Science (April 8) my 

 letter in which I showed: (1) That our Insti- 

 tutions do not possess American books and 

 instruments; (2) that the disadvantageous ex- 

 change of our money since the war, prevents 

 us from making scientific purchases in the 

 United States; (3) that means should be 

 found to remove a difficulty that hinders 

 scientific relations. 



This letter provoked the interest of the 

 American universities and intellectuals. I 

 received not only approvals but also gifts con- 

 sisting of books and even scientific instru- 

 ments. 



We accept with gratitude all these mani- 

 festations of sympathy, but they do not 



