Seminar on anthropod-borne virus diseases

Wed, 17 Apr 2024

Published on: Saturday, November 03, 1962

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NORTH BORNEO NEWS & SABAH TIMES - (Saturday, November 3, 1962) - JESSELTON, Fri. - Dr. D.M. Cameron of the North Borneo Medical Department has arrived in Tokyo to attend the WHO Seminar on arthropod-borne virus diseases, with representatives from other South-east Asian countries, Australia and the USA. The Seminar will exchange information on Japanese B-encephalitis and other arthropod-borne virus infections and consider the need and the measures available for controlling them.

About 150 viruses carried by arthropods (mosquitos, ticks, gnats etc.) have now been discovered, and new ones are being added to the list almost every day, states the World Health Organisation. Some of these viruses cause disease and often death in man and animals, but little is known about a good many of them, how they are transmitted and so on. Japanese B-encephalitis , which causes inflammation of the brain, is believed to carried by migratory birds; ornithologists, therefore, have been invited to take part in the Seminar.

The Seminar, which is under the auspices of the WHO and the Japanese Government, will last from 5th to 14th November.