September 22, 1999

VOX POPULI, VOX DEI: Authorities must locate ties to Suginami disease

Katayama-byo, or Katayama disease, was what an Edo Period physician
called a disease that was rampant around the Katayama Basin in Hiroshima
Prefecture.

Some of the more obvious symptoms included a skin rash, fever and
stomachache. Internally, there was irreparable damage to the liver and
the bladder.

Despite the name, however, this was not just a localized disease. Cases
were reported in various other parts of Japan, such as in the Kofu Basin
area in Yamanashi
Prefecture, for instance. In fact, sufferers of this disease are still
to be found today in China and the Philippines.

It was only in this century that the cause of this disease was traced to
a certain kind of parasite that had shellfish for its host to enter the
human body. Eggs of this
parasite were found in a mummy, presumed to be at least 2,000 years old,
dug up in China. This just goes to show how old and widespread this
disease is.

Today, it is known by the more modern name of schistosoma japonicum
disease.

For the people of the Katayama area, it certainly could not have been
fun having a disease named after their region. But it is not uncommon to
name a disease after a
geographical area while its cause and origin remain unknown.

The Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the United States is one such
example. Patients develop a headache, chills, muscular pain and red
spots on the skin. The
mortality rate is 20 percent. Cases concentrate in mountainous areas
including the Rockies. The disease is caused by ticks carrying
rickettsia, a kind of bacteria. But
this was not known until this century.

In Japan, Minamata disease and Yokkaichi asthma were named after
geographical places. Reflecting the times, both were caused by
environmental pollution.

And now, there is also Tokyo's Suginami disease.

There was a recent outbreak of this in Igusa, a residential neighborhood
in Suginami Ward. Residents complained of headache and muscular ache,
runny nose, heavy
expectoration and itchy skin.

These symptoms surfaced three years ago when the Tokyo metropolitan
government began operating an intermediate disposal facility for
unburnable garbage in
Suginami.

Newspapers named the disease after the ward. Based on health studies,
ward authorities recently acknowledged a certain link between the
symptoms and the
garbage facility. But the Tokyo metropolitan government has so far
denied any such link.

I would certainly like to see Suginami disease become a thing of the
past as soon as possible. And I hope the authorities will spare no
investigative resources to track
down the "culprit."

(Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 21)