CURRENT AND POSTWAR PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE HUMAN PROTOZOAN DISEASES

The present war is providing unparalleled opportunities for the entrance into this country of pathogenic agents and disease vectors that have played little or no part in our past medical history. Chief among the diseases most likely to exert their influence over us is the protozoan group and their near relatives which thrive in tropical and subtropical areas because of favorable climatic conditions and lack of adequate control. In the past, some have had their distribution limited to fairly restricted areas, largely because of climatic and physical barriers which affect host and parasite alike. However, the majority have a very widespread distribution and would seem to need only slight aid to extend their boundaries into unaffected but receptive territory. A major portion of our troops on foreign soil is now in highly disease-ridden areas. In some places they are acquiring infections from the native reservoirs a t an alarming rate. By the rehabilitation of sick troops these recently contracted diseases are being transposed to the United States in large numbers. Whether the infections succeed in establishing themselves in their new environment is yet to be learned but we cannot assume that they will disappear spontaneously because our soil is unfriendly. Therefore it must be agreed that all are potentially dangerous and unless energetic measures are instituted to curb their activity we may face serious consequences. In this discussion I should like to present evidence for considering these foreign diseases and their vectors as immediate hazards to present and future health.