established the commission and re¬
Rodent Linked to Epidemic
of Bolivian Viral Illness
wild rodent similar field
A mouse has been implicated
to
the transmission of Bolivian hemor-
a
in
rhagic fever, viral illness which has
a been given to development of a vac¬
claimed more than 100 lives in north-
eastern Bolivia.
The animal, Calomys callosus, in-
habits fields, woodlands, and build-
ings in the province of Beni, center
of the epidemic.
Evidence of its role in the spread
of the disease was contained in a
report issued by the Bolivian Hemor-
rhagic Fever Commission, composed
of several US and Bolivian agencies
working in cooperation with the Pan
American Sanitary Bureau.
The first reported case of Bolivian
hemorrhagic fever, known in Bolivia
as "la tifa negra" (the black typhus),
was reported in 1959. Since then, it
has spread through Beni Province,
and the village of Orobayaya was
completely abandoned. During severe
outbreaks of the disease in San
Joaquin, present center of research
operations, large numbers of persons
fled to other areas.
About 20% of the disease victims
have died. Clinically, the disease
resembles other varieties of hemor¬
rhagic fever found in different parts
of the world. It is characterized by a
slow onset, fever, chills, muscular
pain and headache, sometimes fol¬
lowed by nose and intestinal bleed¬
ing, tremors of the tongue and hands,
Corticosteroids: A Factor in Management of Varicella
child receiving steroids for
Whenchronic
a and disorder
severe
becomes ill with
is
exposed to or
varicella, continuation of therapy in
levels equivalent to 25 to 50 mg of
cortisone acetate is recommended, re-
ported Constantine J. Falliers, MD,
of the Children's Asthma Research
Institute and Hospital, Denver.
"Abrupt withdrawal of cortico-
steroids in the face of any potentially
stressful disease, such as varicella, is
considered unphysiologic and dan-
gerous," he said.
Downloaded From: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/ by a Florida International University Medical Library User on 06/11/2015
quested scientific assistance from the
Middle America Research Unit
(MARU), a field station of the Na¬
tional Institute of Allergy and In¬
fectious Diseases operated by the
US Public Health Service in collab¬
and shock, as well as coma.
Since there presently is no available
means of protection, priority has
oration with the Walter Reed Army
Institute of Research.
MARU investigators have recovered
from patients with the disease an
cine. organism, designated Mechupo virus,
The campaign against Bolivian which is the causative agent.
hemorrhagic fever began in May, Similar agents have been isolated
1962, when the Bolivian government from two specimens of the wild rodent.
This model of a
human head, part
of a scientific ex¬
hibit at the AMA
Annual Conven¬
tion, is designed
for classroom
testing of eyes
for evidence of
glaucoma. One
eye gives normal
reading of intra¬
ocular pressure
on the tonometer;
other eye gives
reading in the
glaucoma suspect
range. Model
was developed
by Richard Rush
Studio, Chicago.
He said that during a six-year
period, 59 cases of varicella were seen
at the Institute. Of these, 21 were
reports of 274 cases of varicella oc-
curring in children treated with corti-
costeroids. A survey of these reports,
on corticosteroid therapy. he said, showed that mortality was
"No fatalities and no serious com- higher in those cases before 1958,
plications attributable to the corti- "possibly due to the authors' initial
cotropin were noted," he said. "In- intention of pointing out the potential
deed, steroid therapy did not dangers of this situation."
influence the degree or duration of He said that significantly higher
pyrexia, or the extent or severity of mortality was found in cases treated
the exanthematous eruption, as com- with steroids for leukemia and other
pared to a group of controls." hematological disorders, as well as for
Falliers said that during the period rheumatic and connective-tissue dis¬
from 1953 through 1963, there were eases.