Watching the World

Malaria’s Comeback

● Malaria has been ranked as the world’s number one public health enemy. It affects 108 nations, kills millions of people every year, and probably has claimed more lives than all the wars of history. Once thought to be eradicable, malaria has made a dramatic resurgence worldwide​—365 million cases at last count. According to WHO (World Health Organization), the number had quadrupled in ten short years. Why the comeback? The increased numbers are blamed on the malaria-carrying mosquito’s growing resistance to insecticides and the simultaneous development of resistance in the malaria parasite to once life-saving drugs. While there is international scientific activity in the search for new effective drugs, commercial interest is low, according to University of California biologist Irwin Sherman. He says: “The cost of development is very high and the financial return is low. The chief markets are poor countries, which can’t afford to pay for them.”

Arms-Race Peril

● At the International Press Institute’s conference in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 11, 1984, Sweden’s prime minister, Olof Palme, stated: “The international Institute of Strategic Studies recently said that international tensions are now at their worst since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.” He noted how modern war-weapons technology has increased the arms-race peril by introducing a new time frame. “Today,” continued the prime minister, “the time between an attack and its first serious effects is counted in minutes. This does not give much scope for reflection and considered decision.”

Infertility Linked to STD

● The term STD (sexually transmitted disease) has replaced the expression VD (venereal disease) because it is more specific in terms of the mode of transmission (sexual contact). It encompasses a number of infections not included under the traditional VD designation. The latter covered five infections, including gonorrhea and syphilis. The term STD covers 35 more.

STDs now account for more than 50 percent of infertility problems in women in many parts of the world, says Professor Richard Morisset, 1984 chairman of the International Conjoint STD Conference, held under the patronage of the World Health Organization. “We are concerned that women today who are more mobile are increasingly in contact with infectious diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia, yet often the symptoms go unreported,” he says. “As a result, an infertility problem which might have been avoided with early diagnosis and correct treatment becomes irreversible.” He estimates that every six seconds somebody in the world acquires a sexual disease​—and that the rate is increasing.

Arthritis Drug Use Warning

● The OMA (Ontario Medical Association) in Canada has issued a warning about serious, undesirable reactions to certain anti-arthritic drugs now in use, especially among the aged. The Globe and Mail of Toronto reports that for the first three months of 1984, the OMA noted “eight deaths . . . among 53 adverse reactions (43 of them considered serious) to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.” It appears that the victims were those taking combinations of some of these drugs. “Patients at special risk are the aged, people with impaired liver or kidney function and those who have inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract or a history of stomach ulcers,” says the article. It would seem wise for the elderly who are taking such drugs to consult with their doctor about this health threat.

No TV for Tots?

● Does television rob children of their childhood? Yes, answers Professor Gerhard Priesemann, vice-chancellor of Germany’s Kiel University. He feels that TV programs do not make enough allowance for the differences in age between children and adults, and therefore cause children to believe that the world really is as it appears on TV. He says that the natural steps children take from immaturity to maturity​—often achieved only by means of a painful learning process—​are lost due to TV viewing. According to Priesemann, as reported in the city of Kiel’s newspaper Kieler Nachrichten, children should only watch TV “when they have sufficient powers of speech and thought to be able to digest the complicated events that take place on the television screen.” Preschoolers should not, in his highly controversial opinion, watch TV.

Caribbean ‘Sheep Raiders’

● A recent letter to the editor published in the Dutch Roman Catholic magazine Bijeen complained about the problem of “sheep raiding” in the Netherlands Antilles Caribbean island of Curaçao. Who are the ‘sheep raiders?’ “The different Bible sects of North American origin which aggressively inflict themselves on the Catholic population to convert them to their own group,” explains the letter writer. Aggressive proselytizing was a “thorn in the side of the Antillean Catholic Church” 30 or 40 years ago, but those groups have calmed down, continues the letter. Then, unintentionally acknowledging the unabated zeal of one group of ministers, it adds, “That is with the exception of the Jehova[h’s] Witnesses.”

Sleep Aids Health

● For many people, the weekend is for excessive recreation and late night parties. But according to Dr. Carlos Suárez Zamudio, director of the Family Health Unit, Mexican Institute of Social Security, the weekends may provide people with the best medicine to prevent illness and serious accidents​—sleep! A little more sleep during the weekend is the best medicine for the human being, advises Dr. Suárez Zamudio, as reported in Mexico City’s newspaper El Universal. Sleep helps the body to recuperate physically and mentally, renews its energy, gives it a psychological lift, and prepares the person to work with greater enthusiasm the following week, emphasizes Dr. Suárez Zamudio.

Newspaper for the Blind

● Sweden now has what can truly be called a newspaper for the blind, reports The Medical Post of Canada. The system “delivers the news directly from a newspaper’s word processing computer to a microcomputer in the blind reader’s home via FM radio signal, bypassing presses and carrier,” states the article. “The blind subscriber has the option of reading from a braille terminal or listening to a voice synthesizer.” That means that sightless readers get the news earlier than sighted ones who must wait for the newspaper to be printed and delivered.

Mt. Fuji Crumbling

● Some 300,000 tons of mountainside falls down a huge crevice on the southwestern wall of Mt. Fuji each year, and government officials in Japan are concerned that the mountain may eventually split in half. So to halt the erosion and protect Fujinomeya City, which lies below, engineers will be building a concrete barrier at a point 7,200 feet (2,200 m) high, where deterioration is especially pronounced​—10 feet (3 m) thick, 16 feet (5 m) tall and 55 feet (17 m) long. It is hoped that the barrier, which should be invisible from a distance, will stop the slides and preserve the beauty of Mt. Fuji.

‘Hearing-Ear Dogs’

● Just as there are dogs to assist sightless persons, ‘hearing-ear dogs’ are trained to assist deaf persons. But unlike dogs to assist the blind, which are usually Labrador retrievers or German shepherds, ‘hearing-ear dogs’ can be of any breed​—even a mongrel dog. What is needed, reports the Globe and Mail of Canada, is a dog that is extremely active, and able to run quickly to the source of the noise, and small dogs usually work best. During the four to six months needed, the dogs are trained to run to the source of any noise​—alarm clock, telephone, door bell, whistling kettle, smoke detector, a crying baby—​and then alert their owners by running back to them.

Catching Criminals

● Over 210,000 fugitives are at large at any given time in the United States, officials say​—wanted for committing a felony, escaping from prison, or violating parole or probation. But catching them has always been a problem. One ploy recently used in a campaign to catch the career criminal fugitives was to send notices to their last known address, advising them that a package of goods worth $2,000 was waiting delivery to them, upon their signing a receipt. Scores of fugitives responded and signed for the nonexistent package. Arrested and handcuffed, a number asked, “Where’s my package?” “It’s amazing,” said Howard Safir, assistant director for operations of the Marshals Service, “if you put a little greed into the situation, like a $2,000 package, people ignore some of the details,” such as why anyone would be sending it to them.

Endangered Species Surplus

● “It’s a contradiction,” says Dr. Gilbert K. Boese, director of the Milwaukee County Zoo, “but it is a fact of life that if you do a real good job of breeding endangered species in captivity you’re going to end up with another problem; that is, overcrowding or genetic imbalance.” This is the problem that zoos are now facing: what to do with the animals they have successfully bred in captivity but no longer have either room for or need for in order to preserve the species. As reported in The New York Times, “zoo space for animals is limited. All the zoos in the world would fit in Brooklyn.” Some zoos try to meet the problem by curtailing breeding by means of a contraceptive implant. Attempts have also been made to return some animals to the wild. But zoos often have to resort to killing small animals to feed other animals, and killing larger animals to reduce the size of herds.

Indoor Pollution

● Indoor air pollution may be worse than outdoor pollution, warns the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission. A year-long study of some 40 homes found between 20 and 150 chemicals in the inside air. They came from building materials, aerosol sprays, appliances, cleaning products, dry-cleaned fabrics, and even cosmetics. And as more homes are being sealed for heating or air-conditioning by weatherstripping and insulation, the pollutants are trapped indoors. “Indoor levels of the volatile organic chemicals are generally ten-fold greater than outdoor levels,” says the study prepared for the commission. Exposure to them has been associated with birth defects, cancer, and allergic reactions. It is suggested that homes be aired out regularly and that attention be given to the products used within.

Exercise Prolongs Life

● A study of 17,000 men has revealed that a direct relationship exists between the level of physical activity and the length of a person’s life. Even former athletes, now leading sedentary lives, are affected, the researchers say. According to the article in the International Herald Tribune, “the scientists strongly urged that people undertake some form of regular exercise, even brisk walks four times a week, to help ward off cardiovascular and pulmonary disease.” The study is said to be the “first scientific evidence that even modest exercise helps prolong life.”