MEDICAL SCIENCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 June 1926, Page 4

MEDICAL SCIENCE.

THE YEAR’S ADVANCES. TRIUMPH OVER DIPHTHERIA.

Preventive medicine has scored a real triumph over diphtheria. A survey of the mortality statistics of this once deadly disease reported to the American Medical Association, shows that in 1910-14 only thirteen cities averaged death rates under 10 per 100,000; in 1915-19 only eighteen citie could be so classed; hut in 1924 thero were thirty-seven, and in 1925 fortynine with diphtheria death rates lower than had ever beeiFknown before 1910. There is little doubt, medical authorities Bay, that this amazing deduction can bo attributed largely to the increasing practice of immunising school children with toxin-anti-toxin mixtures or with anatoxin. This opinion seems to be borne out, hot only by observation in single cities like New York, where, this method has been extensively lined, but by the rapid decline in diphtheria mortality tlu'oughout- the country. Anti-toxin, as a curative agent, is due considerable credit, but the fact that the death rate lias dropped so decisively since the immunisation measures have been applied indicates that they- are the main factor. According to editorial comment in the journal of tho American Medical Association, diphtheria may he an almost negligible factor in the mortality returns of 1930, if tho improvement of the last three years continues.

i The child who has not been immunised against diphtheria is from 10 to 156 times more liable to tlm disease than one who has,- according to Dr Charles V., Chapin, superintendent of health of 'Providence, Rhode Island. Dr Chapin, rl citing these results for a represntatiie of Science Service, said ho had hc.'.i conducting Schick tests and observations for a. period of three years in the public schools of Providence. Up to this time ho has refrained from making public his conj elusions, feeling that he wanted to he I sure of his results, he said. A total lof 27,5013 children have boon .subjected to the toxin-antitoxin tests in the three-year period. Dr Chapin, who is preparing an article for a national medical journal, said his study ■ showed that out of 108 cases of diphtheria which occurred during this perj iod only 12 wore of children who had • been immunised. During the first ; year, with 28 cases of the disease, I there was hut one case contracted by a child out of 4392 wlm bad been treated. In the second year, when 0859 children were treated, out of the 25 case of diphtheria only four immunised children contracted it. The third year, with 10,363 children immunised, there were 55 cases of diphtharia. of which only seven had been treated. The tests were largely conducted h\ Dr (1.. Seainnmn, and Dr Alton R. Pope, assistant to Dr Haven Emerson, of Columbia University. TREATMENT OF BLOOD PRESSURE. Tho recently discovered liver extract used in reducing blood pressure can now he prepared in a comparatively pure state. In a paper given before lhr section on pharmacology and therapeutics of the American Medical Association, Drs A. A. James, N. B. Laughton, and A. B. Macallum, of Loudon, Ontario, described their method of preparing (his now remedy. They have succeeded in purifying this ■ml>■siaiKe, which is made from fresh liver tissues, and in freeing it from dangerous chemicals. When injected into the. body there occurs a rapid fall m blood pressure, more pronounced and of longer duration than can bo induced by any other known drug. Dr IV. J. MacDonald, of St. Catherine’s. Ontario, who has been working on liver extracts independently, will deliver a paper later describing their application and use. Dr Ralph C. M’iijor, of Kansas City, described another substance called ‘‘guanidine," which produces a. rise in blood pressure when injected inlo the body. A decided elevation in blood pressure was produced in dogs by extracts made from several dill’ereiit organs of the body. That made from liver w.'as found, however, more efficacious than anything else as a depressant. It is thought the method will eventually have a, great practical value in tho treatment of this condition in

hum,an beings. Dr Joseph L. Aliller, of Chicago, pointed out that there are many types |of blood pressure that are due to changes in ago, and in these eases I high blood pressure is possibly a necessary phenomenon. There is such great Variation in blood pressure at different times even ‘in the same person, lie said, that the study of the effect of the various types of treatment i s a difficult matter. Dr Aliller also indicated certain changes which are caused by emotional disturbance, by rest and sleep, and oven by nightmares during sleep.

SUGAR. HELPS THE JOINT’S. The sugar we eat may have a definite bearing on the ability of our joints to resist infection. Dr Ralph Pemberton,, of Philadelphia, reported on April Id to the section of the American Afedical Association at Dallas, Texas, on diseases of the hones and joints, that the amount of sugar digested in the body has a well-defined relationship to inflammation of the joints. In more than sixty persons with disturbances of the joints he found a. low tolerance for sugar. Dr Pemberton believes that control of sugar digestion is a factor in the healing of such diseases. The condition is not the same as that which occurs in diabetes, but seems to depend on some changes in the circulation of the blood. Low sugar tolerance was produced experimentally in individuals by changing the circulation through the administration of drugs. By these studies it was determined that sugar taken in through the mouth passed bv way of the blood to the fluid of the join Ls, ami there is evidence indicating that it aids their resistance to infection.