Abstract
A. A. GUZMÁN discussed the problem of malaria in Costa Rica at the Eighth American Scientific Congress on May 17. Due to climatic variations because of altitude, malaria is distributed irregularly in Costa Rica, most of it being confined to the low coastal areas and the Nicaraguan frontier, although some high valleys are also infected. Since the greater part of the inhabitants live on the high central plateau, in the cities of Alajuela, Cartago, Heredia and San José, the incidence of malaria is lower than would otherwise be expected. In 1938 and part of 1938 more than 9,000 primary school children in 168 localities were examined for spleen enlargement, the results indicating that six times as much malaria occurred in areas less than 1,000 ft. above sea-level as in higher regions. Blood smears from every child with splenic enlargement, and from one third of the rest, were examined microscopically, 3,981 smears from 9,226 children (43 per cent) being examined. Giemsa stain was used. P. vivax and P. falciparum were found throughout the malaria region; P. malarice was most common on the Pacific coast and in the Province of Guanacaste.
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Malaria in Costa Rica. Nature 146, 330 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146330a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146330a0