Some years ago, on my arrival in La Paz having travelled from Cuzco, the Swiss consul warned me to be careful of the Indians on the Altiplano, saying they were riddled with parasites. However well meant the advice was it actually came too late, since I had been living among the carefree native Indians for quite a while and had seen for myself that many individuals had lice.
From the reports of German doctors who had accompanied the troops on the German campaign in Russia I knew that lice can transmit typhus. Of course, not all lice are infected with this disease but they are an awful nuisance anyway. I have often had to give medical advice to patients who returned from foreign countries complaining about intense itching, especially in the hairy parts of the body. Mind you, I could not be so blunt as to tell them outright that the itching was caused by lice.
*1133/28/1*
