International Doctors baffled as toll from mystery illness still rises

Press, 5 August 1976, Page 6

International

Doctors baffled as toll from mystery illness still rises

NZPA-Reuter

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A mystery fatal illness that has claimed 21 victims within a week is still baffling American doctors, and the health authorities are preparing a mass immunisation programme.

More than 100 people are in hospitals throughout the state of Pennsylvania suffering from various symptoms of the ailment — high fever, chills, headaches, coughs, and pains in the stomach, chest, and eyes. Yesterday, as teams of! specialists worked around the clock to identify the cause of the deaths, a doctor admitted: *We just don't know what we have.” State health officials nre preparing a mass immunisation programme, to begin immediately if a new outbreak is reported after the disease is identified. The coincidence of several deaths from undetermined causes was not noticed until last Friday, a week after 10,000 people left Philadelphia after an American Legion convention for former servicemen. All the victims had attended the convention.

They began to fall sick and: die after they returned home. One was a woman.

The ex-servicemen, mostly middle-aged or elderly, stayed at six different hotels in Philadelphia. The health authorities have ruled out food poisoning and contaminated water. Dr Leonard Bachman, Pennsylvania’s health secretary, has told a press conference the results of post mortems performed on four victims showed the cause of death was a severe viral type of pneumonia.

“It’s most likely a virus, not a bacteria,” he said. .The possibility of an outbreak of swine ’flu is being considered, but that is a winter disease and Philadelphia is sweltering in summer temperatures of around 30 deg. Celsius. Nevertheless, health

officials in Washington are urging congress to approve a swine ’flu immunisation programme announced by President Ford earlier this year aimed at covering the entire American population of 215 million by next winiter. Doctors are hunting for one common denominator among the victims to identify the mystery disease. But Dr Bachman said: “We don’t expect a breakthrough for at least several days.” The health authorities are especially worried about another, much bigger, convention meeting in Philadelphia now. More than one million people from around the world are expected in the city at one time or another this week for the 41st international Eucharistic Congress of the Roman Catholic Church.