and Palau Districts ° and found 3 certain cases in Truk Atoll, they were hesitant about diagnosing the disease without the assistance of specialists. As a result, district medical personnel were instructed to examine the suspected cases and to send those whom they thought afflicted to the leprosarium on Tinian.’ A minimum of filariasis was discovered until the Truk area was surveyed. One case was found on Saipan and several cases in the Palaus but the incidence of positive reactions in the Truk District was 29 percent for the 2600 people tested. Later observations on Ponape indicated that this disease was also endemic to Ponape. Encephalitis had been discovered on Ponape in 1947, previous to the WHIDBEYsurvey and hadexisted in a mild form but in epidemic proportions at thattime. An epidemiological team was sent to Ponape from the Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, in January 1948 and succeeded in determining that the probable agent of transmission was the mosquito.” Quarantine regulations prevented its spread to other areas of the Trust Territory but lack of time for a thorough medical survey of Ponape by the WHIDBEYprevented obtaining later statistics on its prevalence. Venereal disease statistics available for all districts but Ponape showed a minute incidence of syphilis and gonorrhea: 7 District Saipan. ee Palau... ee Truk. ee Marshalls... eee No. of cases| of syphilis No. of cases of gonorrhea 0 | 0 | 0 12 0 4 1 20 Skin diseases, especially dermatophytosis, were prevalent chiefly because of low standards of hygiene and the hot, humid climate. Incidence for the districts was: Saipan, 29.8 percent: Palau, 25.4 percent; Marshall Islands, 30.9 percent. The prevalence rate for diseases of skin and cellular tissue was 14.9 percent for the same three districts: Saipan, 24.6 percent; Palau, 6.3 * There were no clinically suspicious cases of leprosy found in the Marshall Islands District. ‘Infra, p. goo ff. “Infra, pp. 940-1 ff. 849 9005989