THE COMMON COLD

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25047, 10 November 1944, Page 3

THE COMMON COLD

PROTECTING CHILDREN experiments in school (From » Now York Correspondent) Twelve years' study of childhood illnesses among 600 students in a wellknown school, the Friends' School at Gcrmantowri, near Philadelphia, has disclosed that the use of ultra-violet lamps in classrooms has protected children against cross-infection from common colds, measles, mumps and chickenpox. This has convinced Dr Theodore Wilder, of the American Public Health Association, to which he presented his data, contrary to what "might have been expected from these findings, that "not all transmissible diseases can be controlled bv any one set routine." The Germantown school experiences further disclosed that bacteria-killing rays may also play some part in speeding the subsidence of other infections, like epidemic vomiting, but it would be fallacious to believe that there is a single ameliorative treatment. Correct Approach The correct approach, Dr Wilder considered, should still be a knowledge of the "behaviour pattern'' of any disease before any specific measures lor its control can be devised, whether by immunisation, minimising the exposure to infection, or treatment. The Germantown studies showed that the air in a room may be a major means of infection, but that did not mean that schoolrooms are necessarily greater sources of infection than other rooms where people congregate. Dr Wilder said: "Exposure to the cold virus, for instance, is as common during the hours when the pupil is not at school as when he is in school. Very likely it is an almost daily occurrence during the colder months; so that the incidence of colds is determined by susceptibility rather than by exposure at school." This, Dr Wilder contended, explains why a child has fewer colds year by year as it grows older. Germantown statistics disclose that children aged six to nine have exactly twice as many colds as those aged 10 to 13, and three times as many as those aged 14 to 17. Native Immunity After reaching 21, however, what has been gained in immunity is lost by the widening of the scope of activity bringing the subject more frequently into exposure. Dr Wilder also found in one year that 11 per cent of the pupils contracted o.'i per cent of the colds. These children had not been exposed to infection any more than others. This was held as corroborative proof that native immunity gives some persons a distinct advantage and that the 11 per cent were highly susceptible. It was also demonstrated that no single method of treatment necessarily is the answer to reducing common infections like colds when experiments were conducted at North Western University, Chicago, on soldiers. Jt was found that trietli.vlene glycol vapour could check the spread of colds and other airborne diseases in rooms. In these tests measles, mumps and pneumonia were effectively controlled. PERSONAL "INFLUENCE" AUTHOR OF BEST-SELLER 8 YEARS TO "SELL" HIMSELF NEW YORK, Nov. 7 Palo Carnegie made a fortune from telling other people, in his famous book, "How to Make Friends and lull ut itt-e People," but confesses that it took him eight years to persuade Mrs Dorothy Vanderpnol, of Tulsa. Oklahoma, to marry him. The couple, both of whom have been married once before, were married the other day on the eighth anniversary ol the first publication of the book. Carnegie, who is 50, has published many other books, and is well known throughout America as a lecturer. He established an international reputation as an instructor in effective speaking •'n Britain and France. lb' lectured in Canada, the United Stales and Britain on "With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia." and writes a syndicated column for 71 newspapers in the United States. His "Who's Who" records that in 1921-22 he was "impresario for Lowell Thomas and Sir Keith Smith." RETURNED SOLDIERS The vast majority of the soldiers with whom 1 have come into contact most certainly do not feel that the Government owes them a living after the war. writes Lewis B. Seabring, a New York Herald-Tribune war correspondent. Hut. he adds, the men do feel thev are entitled to prime consideration for jobs in civilian organisations, and if they were to feel that every industry and every business was not even now planning for this contingency they would be deeply hurt.