Lt. Cal. STONE, %edical Seotion, NAT3USA From Fred L, SOP&R .Rspresentativs Rookefallcr Health Comrniaaion in l?orth Afrioa ,Civil Affairs Seation. Subjact t Demonstration of use of Louse Powder Prison aampa at Oran and Casablanoa. at THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION 49 WEST 49TH STREET NEW YORK, N. Y. The Health Commission group oonsisting of Drs. m.A. Davis, P.S. Markham, L.A. Riehl and m self, in the company of Major Y. E'uraalow, iTsPBS, NASB, arrived in Oran on Oat. I 7th as planned. Contaclt was established with the Surgeon's offioe and arrangements made for an initial visit the same day to P.0.Y. oamp 131 at Mangin. The offiaer in charge reported that the P risoners in some of the older stockades were relatively clean but that stookadc # 11 was known to be lousy. Preliminary investigation confirmed this statement and arrangements were made to begin louse counts the following day to determine the degree of prepowder- ing infestation. On Oct. 18th, Lt. J.P. Stsllworth, NAC and 1% enlisted men (uolorad) were on hand for training in louse oounta, These man showed great inte- re& in thefr work and 8ome of them bsoame quite adept. All ha.;! an adequate op- portunity to searoh for and iddntify the various stagea of the life cycle of the louse. During the day the clothing Of 252 man was examined. One or more lice were found on 193 (y7 $) and 10 or more lioe were found on 75 ($0 $) men. On Oat, 19th, the qpplioation of powder in stoakade 11 began. In addition to Lt. Stallworth and his 12 men, Capiz, Heaton and Sieg of the Sanitary Corps were on hand with additional men. The work in Stookade 11 aould easily have been finiahed in one day, had more of the Dobbin.: dusters been available. (Dusters used 15). As it was the work oarried over to the morning or' Oct. 20th. The prisoners were powdered at their tents, all extra clothing and bedding being powdered at the s8me time. Note was made of absent men sleeping in eaah tent and these were :-lusted later. The prisonera were anxious to be powdered and were moat helpful in handling crlothing and blankets and even in operating the dusting maohines, Stookade + 11 had some 1500 men when visited on Oct. 17th but this number had been reduced to about 1100 by the withdrawal of labor units on tha 18th and 19th. Sinoe these withdrawals `were irregularly distributed among the tents, it is impossible to know exactly how many men were dusted but it is believed that the number was between 1300 and 1liOC. THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION 49 WEST 49TH STREET NEW YORK, N. Y. 2. A list of the 282 prisoners examined in Stockade $ 11 was left at the oamp and the request made that none of these men be removed previous to re- examination planned for the 4th and 5th of November. It was also rsquasteci that no new lots of prisoners be added to Stookade .y: 11 previous to re-examination. It is a pleasure to reuord the full collaboration given by the Surgeon's and Provost Marshall's offioas in Oran. Col. flutter was very interested in the work and Lt. Cal. Cocae was most autiva in making, all.detailsd arrangements neoessaryr Lt. Custer worked right with us at the Camp. Among those who saw what was done were Cal. Hutter, Lt. Col. Cooke, Major Flynn, Col. V.R. Hornall, Lt. Col. Mason and LAajor Riser, Capt. Feldman (XC) an4 Capt. Raiixwat*;z were most helpful at the aamp itself. On Oat. ZOth, P.L. Sopor proueeded to Cam, Dr. Mrxrlcham and Major !?uraalow arriving on the followbg day. Contaot was made with the Surgeon's offioe and ar- rqngements made to visit P.0.W. Camp Ml at Bereohid on the 21st. 'Fhis visit was made in the oompany of Cal. Parsons, inapeotion showed P.O.%. of the Provost hshall dervioe. Preliminary Camp 101 to be relatively free of lioe. Rapid examination of several enlisted men (POWsj; failed to reveal lice but two of six or seven of- fioers were founi infested. Arrangements were made to begin work the following day with 10 men from the Camp oompany and ten men from hospital units (2 men each from 6 units), On Oat. 221~~~ the olothing of 141 of the 282 Italian offioers in Sootion 4 of Camp 101 were examined under the suparvi:$ion of F.L. Sopcr, F.S. Markham, Wjor Furoalow. Suoh infestations as were found were light and it was difficult to get the men doing the work to show the same interest in their work as did those working at Camp 131. One or more lioa were found on 37 (26 $) of the 141 men examined. All of them infestations were light, none running beyond 15 lice, This is probably due to the faot that this group of offioers had been deloused with methyl bromide 5 Cgays previously. All but one of the 282 officrers in Se&ion 4 were powder& together with their additional alothfng and blankets on the 22nd and the morning of the 23rrl. As a oheok on aonditions in Seotion 4, work was done in Section 8 on the 23rd. Se&ion 8 oontains some 1600 enlisted POWs who are grouped in Labor companies of about 144 men eaoh. These men have been in camp several month.,, have been de- loused with Methyl Bromide4 have a dequata supplies of soap and water and are re- putedly free of Moe. &a&nation of the clothing of 182 men by untrained men doing the work revealed one or more lice on 11 (6 he relatively & of them. These infestations were all light none running over 15 lioe. 3 Due to the 1iKht infestation present 3 aompani.88, companies A, , the decision WQS taken to powder 8 and C of,the 1st Port Battalion, Eng. Detaohment, of 144 men eaoh. All clothing, whgther in use or not/was powdered but blankets and bad- ding were not powdered. Splendid oollaboration was reoeived from both the Surgeon's a@ Provost Marshall's se&ions at Casablanoa. Col. Burnet and Col. Fialler personally viewed the work and took an interest in making all necessary arrangements, IAajors Zuker, Hoffman and Snyder were most help.ful in handling details and Capt. Bramwell accompanied- the first day's work at the oamp. Lt. Hill in charge of prooessing at camp 101 was most helpful in making local arrangements. THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION 49 WEST 49TH STRE!m NEW YORK, N. Y. 3. In the work at Calnps 131 and 101 the Dobbins Suparbilt Duster was used. Sinaa the delivery tube of this duster is inexible die, which make8 it easier to manipulate, , it was sawed in two at the mid- When the louse powder is dry, this duster works satisfaotorily but when the powder is moist, it tends to clog both at the outlet from the powder ohamber and at the nozele itself. Definite observations have not been made but it has been suggested that the louse powder is %etter" at low temperatures than it is at high temperatures. Some workers prefer using the straight open tube without the nozzle, othars prefarrinp: the nozzle. !The Dobbins duster oan probably be improved by enlarging the holes leading from the powder ohamber to the delivery tube and fitting it with a flexible delivery tube The supply of Dobbins dusters in this theater seems to be uncertain. At Oran none were found on the &oak lists but 13 were retrieved from an open box of dusters returned after usage. An identical experienoe was had at Casablanca Iwhere 13 used dusters were found in an open box. In the absenoe of an adequate supply of dusters, it is suggested that these be used for dusting persons and the olothing they wear and that eylindriaal oans with holes punched around the circ*u&erenoe near the base be used for dusting blankets and extra alothing. T'he amount of powder used was in exoess of prU.minary estimates. At Carp 131, 280 pounds of powder were used on the olothing and bedding of between 1300 and 1400 men* At oamp 101, 110 @ounds of powder were used on the olothing and bedding of 282 offioers and on the clothin? (not inoluding bc.ddinr,) of 432 men. From these fi,ures it is apparent that oomplete application to clothing and bed4inp; requires about 1 5 / of a pound per person. (%e were greatly surprised at the amount of clothing and the number of blankets in the possession of the Italian prisoners>. Apparently they made a point of being taken with all their equipment). It was found that the applioation of powder to bedding and additional olothing required a great deal more labor and time than does the dusting of the in- dividual with the clothing hti wears. Considering the duration of activity of the louse powder, f'urther observations are needed to determine the practioability of dusting only the olothin g in oonstant use at tha season of the year when treatinent is given. Attention should be oalled to the importance of light infestations such as that in/section 8 at oamp 101 at ttlis season of the year. With the onset of ou&ler weather, muoh more clothing is going to be oonstantly worn and less bathing and wash- ing of clothing indulged.in, Both the percentage of individuals infested and the degree of infestation may be expecter% to increase. d/