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Medical records concerning filarial diseases in Ceylon date from the account of Davy[1], though there are hints as to the more obvious manifestations in the old chronicles of the country, too. A first survey was conducted in 1912/1913 concentrating on urban areas, followed by a second survey in the 1930s with emphasis on the rural parts. The results displayed a remarkable distribution pattern: Wuchereria bancrofti, the so-called "urban type", concentrated in Galle and Matara towns, whereas Brugia malayi, the "rural type", widespread along the southwest coast from Matara to Negombo, plus isolated pockets in the northwest, central north, east and south. The survey of the 1930s lead to the supposition that the occurrence of B. malayi must have something to do with the distribution of certain water plants, a suspicion later on confirmed in that Pistia stratiotes in particular--but other water plants as well--are essential for the survival of the vector (Taeniorhynchus (Mansonia) uniformis) during its early (submersed) stages of development. A determined effort to remove the water plants from tanks etc. reduced the rural type with encouraging results. At the same time, a combination of factors, in particular the war-time sojourn of masses of troops from Africa, already infected by filarial diseases, in the southwestern coastal areas triggered off an unexpected spread of the urban type out of its early "bridge-heads" in Galle and Matara towns to invade the southwest coastal areas, and, later on, supported by increased population mobility, to advance further inland too. At present, there is no remedy within sight to give some hope to come to grips with this problem as the vector, Culex pipiens fatigans, is ubiquitous and finds suitable breeding grounds practically everywhere. Research into the history of filarial diseases in Ceylon points as far as B. malayi is concerned, to an invasion by a Malayan army under the Kalinga kings during the days of close relations between Ceylon and southeast Asia, i.e. during the 12th and 13th centuries, and as far as W. bancrofti is concerned, a Chinese army, invading the southern coast in the early 15th century, is made responsible. Filarial diseases in Ceylon present a particular interesting case of geomedical research; but inspite of encouraging results in fighting the rural type, i.e. B. malayi, the urban type, W. bancrofti, seems to remain a problem of public health in the island for the forseeable future.
In 1934-35 Ceylon suffered a major malaria epidemic which affected one and a half million people out of a population of five and a half million. This paper will first examine the orgins and course of the epidemic but the main focus is on the measures the authorities adopted to deal with the disaster. In 1931 Ceylon had attained 'home rule' under the Donoughmore Constitution. The epidemic was a first and major test of the efficacy of the new government. Examining the responses of the imperial government, the colonial government and the colonial medical services to this medical emergency establishes that the epidemic was a turning point in the health services of Ceylon and thus Sri Lanka, that the legacy of colonial medicine is essentially mixed and that the complexity and contradictory nature of colonial medicine can only be understood by detailed contextual research.
;Primary' pulmonary hypertension, which is rare in western countries, was found to be relatively common in Ceylon. The clinical and haemodynamic features were studied. There were two distinct types of the disease, malignant and benign. Patients with the malignant form of the disease had a rapidly progressive illness of short duration and an invariably fatal outcome. Those with the benign form gave a long history and, in spite of severe pulmonary hypertension, were only slightly disabled. They seemed to tolerate the disease better. An important factor which determined the clinical course of the disease was the patency of the foramen ovale. This appeared to act as a safety valve permitting a right-to-left shunt in times of stress. The foramen ovale was closed in all patients with the malignant type. The therapeutic implications of this need further study. Many patients with ;primary' pulmonary hypertension had an unusually high eosinophil count (normal range for Ceylon, 0-500 per cu.mm.). Patients in hospitals often have higher counts ranging from 0-1000 per cu.mm. due to intestinal parasitic infestation. Patients with ;primary' pulmonary hypertension were found to have a significantly higher mean eosinophil count than age-matched, sex-matched controls admitted to the Cardiology Unit with chronic rheumatic heart disease and congenital heart disease. The higher count was not due to intestinal parasitic infestation, and none of the other known causes of a raised eosinophil count were present. Four patients had eosinophil counts over 3,000 per cu.mm., the range commonly associated with tropical pulmonary eosinophilia, a disease caused by filariasis. These patients did not manifest any of the symptoms of tropical pulmonary eosinophilia. Patients with ;primary' pulmonary hypertension were examined for evidence of filariasis (clinical, haematological, and serological). Volunteers from among patients with tropical pulmonary eosinophilia and symptom-free patients positive for Wuchereria bancrofti microfilaria were similarly tested and also catheterized for evidence of pulmonary hypertension. The results of these investigations and their significance are discussed. The geographical incidence of ;primary' pulmonary hypertension and filariasis was similar. Filarial worms are known to cause pulmonary hypertension in animals. There is sufficient evidence to suspect that the same may be true in humans. This may explain the high incidence of the disease in Ceylon and its unusually high prevalence among men.
A case of chromoblastomycosis confined to the mucous membrane of one side of the nasal septum is reported. The organism was not cultivated, but its characteristics in histological preparations were typical of those of the organisms in sections of cutaneous lesions known to be caused by Phialophora pedrosoi and related fungi. The diagnosis is considered to have been justified in spite of the great rarity of mucosal involvement in chromoblastomycosis and of the complete absence of lesions in the skin. The patient was a Sinhalese student working in London. He had first noticed the lesion before he left Ceylon, but the symptoms of nasal obstruction and bleeding were not sufficient to make him seek medical advice until two years later. If it is correct to assume that he contracted the infection in Ceylon his case is only the second on record in which there has been reason to suggest that Ceylon has been the geographical source of chromoblastomycosis. The lesion was excised and its site cauterized. There has been no sign of recurrence of the infection during the two years that have passed since the operation.
A high frequency of the G6PD deficient gene was detected in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka. The frequency in the ancient villages is much higher than that of the recently colonised areas. The Sinhalese and Ceylon Moors have a significantly higher frequency as opposed to the Ceylon Tamils. The distribution appears to be related to a history of exposure to malarial endemicity.
A series of 237 cases of oesophageal carcinoma admitted to two thoracic units in Ceylon is analysed.Evidence suggestive of an aetiological link between betel chewing and high incidence of the tumour in Ceylon is presented. The sex incidence is unusual in that there is a preponderance of females in the series. A significant proportion of patients were women under 40 years of age. The middle third of the oesophagus was the commonest site affected.
This article contests a dominant contemporary view that colonial medicine was oppressive and detrimental to welfare; in particular, that infant and maternal welfare services were culturally hegemonic in their imposition of western practices and values on indigenous women. It does so by studying the development of these services in just one British colony--the 'model colony' of Ceylon from 1900 until independence. It shows how, at both a practical and a theoretical level, there was a direct policy transfer from the metropolitan centre to the colony. Moreover, the main justifications for the development of health and welfare services for women and children ran parallel to those used earlier in Britain. By 1948, these services were extensive in Ceylon and contributed to the fall in infant and maternal mortality rates at the end of the colonial period. It concludes by arguing that, just as in the West, these services were contradictory: they could both help maintain the exploitative State and enhance welfare. However, it is ultimately on their ability to improve health and welfare that they should be judged.
Bancroftian filariasis became a problem in Ceylon after the Second World War. The only vector is Culex pipiens fatigans, which is widely distributed throughout the country and is prevalent throughout the year. It is a domestic mosquito found resting mainly on hangings and household articles. Its biting hours are from dusk to dawn, with peaks around midnight and in the early hours of the morning. So far this mosquito has not been incriminated as either the natural or the laboratory vector of animal filariasis in Ceylon. C. p. fatigans collected from northern, eastern and north-central parts of the country are capable of transmitting bancroftian infection. This mosquito was able to survive after ingesting high numbers of microfilariae. The main larval habitat consists of collections of polluted water. Husk pits, underground drains and receptables around houses constitute special problems. The control results so far obtained are encouraging.
Two novel antifungal peptides, designated alpha- and beta-basrubrins, respectively, were isolated from seeds of the Ceylon spinach Basella rubra. The purification procedure involved saline extraction, (NH(4))(2)SO(4) precipitation, ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, affinity chromatography on Affi-gel blue gel, ion exchange chromatography on CM-cellulose and FPLC-gel filtration on Superdex peptide column. alpha- and beta-basrubrins exhibited a molecular weight of 4.3 and 5 kDa, respectively. They inhibited translation in a rabbit reticulocyte system with an IC(50) value of 400 and 100 nM, respectively. alpha- and beta-basrubrin inhibited HIV-1 reverse transcriptase by (79.4 +/- 7.8)% and (54.6 +/- 3.6)%, respectively, at a concentration of 400 microM, and (10.56 +/- 0.92)% and (2.12 +/- 0.81)%, respectively, at a concentration of 40 microM. Both alpha- and beta-basrubrins exerted potent antifungal activity toward Botrytis cinerea, Mycosphaerella arachidicola, and Fusarium oxysporum.
The extraction of about 1.9 kg of Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Nees) with 10 litres each of petroleum ether, chloroform and ethanol in a Soxhlet apparatus produced extracts weighing 76, 28 and 270 g respectively for the three solvents. In the preliminary test the ethanol extract showed no mutagenic activity. However, both the petroleum ether and the chloroform extracts showed mutagenicity when tested in the rec assay using Bacillus subtilis strains H17 (rec+) and M45 (rec-). When these extracts were studied quantitatively by the liquid and spore rec-assay methods, the minimum inhibitory concentrations of the extracts against strain H17 were higher than those against strain M45. However, in the presence of the liver S-9 mix, the minimum inhibitory concentrations of the petroleum ether and chloroform extracts against both strains of B. subtilis were equal, indicating that the mutagenicity of the extracts had been inactivated.
Two antifungal peptides (designated alpha- and beta-basrubrins) with molecular masses of 4-5 kDa and distinct N-terminal sequences, and a peptide and a protein with N-terminal sequences resembling heat shock protein (hsp) and serine-threonine kinase, respectively, were isolated from seeds of the Ceylon spinach Basella rubra. The purification procedure entailed saline extraction, (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, affinity chromatography on Affi-gel blue gel, ion exchange chromatography on CM-cellulose, and FPLC-gel filtration on a Superdex peptide column. alpha- and beta-basrubrins inhibited mycelial growth in Botrytis cirerea with an IC50 value of 7.5 and 14.7 microM, respectively, Mycosphaerella arachidicola with an IC50 of 12.4 and 6.9 microM, and Fusarium oxysporum with an IC50 of 5.8 and 6.2 microM. Neither alpha-basrubrin nor beta-basrubin exhibited DNase, RNase, lectin or protease activity, indicating that their antifungal action is not due to these activities. HIV-1 reverse transcriptase was inhibited by alpha- and beta-basrubrins with an IC50 of 246 and 370 microM, respectively. Translation in rabbit reticulocyte lysate was inhibited by alpha- and beta-basrubrins with an IC50 of 400 and 100 nM. The heat shock protein-like peptide and serine-threonine kinase-like protein exhibited a molecular mass of 3 and 30 kDa, respectively. They inhibited neither translation in a rabbit reticulocyte system at concentrations up to 50 microM nor HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activity at concentrations up to 400 microM. They did not exert antifungal activity toward B. cinerea, M. arachidicola, and F. oxysporum when tested up to 16 microg. None of the aforementioned proteins demonstrated DNase, RNase, protease or lectin activity.
Antistreptolysin O titres in the sera of children in a rural population of Ceylon were determined, to establish the upper limit of the normal ASO titres in non-rheumatic children, and to compare these ASO titres with results of surveys done in other countries.Swabs were taken from throats and ulcers of the children examined and cultured specifically for group A haemolytic streptoccoci. Of a total of 257 children, 29.5% had ASO titres of over 166 Todd units. The greatest number of children showed ASO values between 100 and 166 units. The percentage of children showing values over 166 units increased with age until a maximum of 54% was reached between 9 and 10 years. Group A haemolytic streptococci were isolated from five throat swabs, but there were no isolations from ulcers. The values obtained from this survey have been compared with those from a few other developing countries.
In 1878 two 'Nightingale' nurses arrived in the British colony of Ceylon to initiate a training programme for indigenous women in the skills and values of what was then termed 'scientific nursing'. These two women were the first of a succession of British women who went to the colony to nurse in its hospitals and to train Ceylonese women for the profession. Using the official records of the colonial government held in the National Archives, Kew and the records of the Overseas Nursing Association in the Rhodes House Collection, Oxford, this paper explores both the professional and social experiences of these women. This paper also analyses the role that these representatives of the colonial state played in the development of an indigenous nursing profession and concludes that their presence in the colony ultimately left an ambiguous legacy. In their role as trainers of indigenous women, they furthered the development and spread of a Western nursing profession in the colony's hospitals. At the same time, however, their continuing dominance of training and the positions of responsibility was an inhibiting factor in the ability of indigenous nurses to organise and professionalise. Whereas the doctors, trained in the colony's Medical College, achieved registration as early as 1905, the nurses had to wait until 1949, a year after independence, before their qualification was recognised and protected. Nursing remained throughout the colonial period therefore, even more so than at the metropolitan centre, the 'Cinderella' of the medical professions.
This paper reports on the presence of low numbers of Streptococcus mutans among the oral streptococci present in human dental plaque in a Sri Lanka (Ceylon) population, where the caries activity is low and a low sucrose intake is combined with the presence of heavy plaque deposits. Plaque samples of unknown age were collected from 10 individuals in a tea estate, and another 10 samples were collected from dental students 19 days following interruption of oral hygiene. Of 670 such strains of oral streptococci studied, none showed typical "frosted glass" colony morphology on Mitis Salivarius agar. However, when subjected to physiological tests 14 of them were classified as S. mutans.
An analysis of 555 consecutive cases of congenital heart disease in Ceylon has shown that for the whole series interatrial septal defect is the commonest cardiac lesion; next is interventricular septal defect, followed by persistent ductus arteriosus. Interventricular and interatrial septal defects are equally common among all the patients below 16 years of age, but interventricular septal defects are commonest among those below 11 years. Persistent truncus arteriosus is unusually common, while coarctation of the aorta and congenital aortic stenosis are rare, as compared with series reported from other places.
BACKGROUND: Anopheles gambiae females are the world's most successful vectors of human malaria. However, a fraction of these mosquitoes is refractory to Plasmodium development. L3-5, a laboratory selected refractory strain, encapsulates transforming ookinetes/early oocysts of a wide variety of Plasmodium species. Previous studies on these mosquitoes showed that one major (Pen1) and two minor (Pen2, Pen3) autosomal dominant quantitative trait loci (QTLs) control the melanotic encapsulation response against P. cynomolgi B, a simian malaria originating in Malaysia. RESULTS: We have investigated the response of L3-5 to infection with P. cynomolgi Ceylon, a different but related parasite species, in crosses with the susceptible strain 4Arr. Refractoriness to this parasite is incompletely recessive. Infection and genotyping of F2 intercross females at genome-spanning microsatellite loci revealed that 3 autosomal QTLs control encapsulation of this species. Two loci map to the regions containing Pen2 and Pen3. The novel QTL maps to chromosome 3R, probably to polytene division 32 or 33. Thus the relative contribution of any QTL to oocyst encapsulation varies with the species of parasite. Further, different QTLs were most readily identified in different F2 families. This, like the F1 data, suggests that L3-5 is not genetically homogeneous and that somewhat different pathways may be used to achieve an encapsulation response. CONCLUSION: We have shown here that different QTLs are involved in responses against different Plasmodium parasites.