malaria

[Nadja Adolf]

According to the CDC, there are mosquitoes capable of carrying the
malaria parasite in all the Lower 48 states. The last mosquito borne
outbreak
was in 1961 in Portland. There was also one in the late 1940s, early
1950s in
Junction City.

I suggest you call the Oregon State Health Division in Portland.
Although the
ambient temperature may be below 60 F, water has a very high specific
heat, and
may remain above 60 F overnight.

It is well established that malaria was endemic in the Willamette Valley
in the
19th C. It is also well established that the coastal peoples entered the
Willamette
Valley to trade with the tribes there before European contact, and there
is no
evidence that European contact ended this trade.

nadja

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Linda Fink [SMTP:linda at FINK.COM]
> Sent:	Sunday, February 07, 1999 9:40 AM
> To:	CHINOOK at LINGUIST.LDC.UPENN.EDU
> Subject:	malaria
>
> http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol2no1/zuckerei.htm
>
> Thanks, Nadja, for this website! I found it interesting but I'm not
> ready to
> swallow that the disease they are calling "malaria" in the 1800s was
> malaria. Lots of diseases cause "fever and ague".
>
> They say that the life cycle of the Anopheles mosquito cannot be
> completed
> in below 60 degree F. (16 degree C.) temperatures. Perhaps there are
> parts
> of the NW that do not dip below that at night in the summer, but the
> NW
> coast is not one of them, as far as I know. Certainly the little
> buggers
> could have survived in the SE U.S. (There are 3 subfamilies of
> mosquitoes,
> of which the vast majority in North America belong to Culicinae.
> Culicinae
> don't carry malaria. Only one genus of the subfamily Anophelinae
> occurs in
> N. America.)
>
> Malaria can only be identified through a blood test when the parasite
> is in
> its active phase. That blood test was not available in the 1800s.
>
> Like most of CDCs pronouncements, I take this one with a grain of
> salt.
>
> Other subject: Has a site definitely been chosen for the Chinook
> workshop?
> Date?
>
> Linda Fink   linda at fink.com
> http://www.fink.com/linda/teenagers/   http://www.fink.com/farm/5.html