MEDICAL SCIENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18613, 22 July 1922, Page 13

MEDICAL SCIENCE

'■ THE TYPHUS G-EEM. j ’ -WOMAN rfoCTOR’S SUCCESS. WORK IN RUSSIA. CFbOM Oub'O.WN COUBESPOWOEN'T.) v LONDON, May 80. The discovery of the typhus .germ by Dr N, Kritch, the -woman director of the Sokolnichersky Hospital Laboratory, is announced by Dr Walter P. Davenport, of the American Belief Administration medical department, winch, supplied Dr Kritch’s laboratory with necessary supplies. Dr Kritch described her work before a meeting of the bacteriological section of the Moscow Medical Society on April 26. In collaboration with Dr Y. Barikan (director of the Microbiological Institute,! Moscow), she has been working on the etiology of typhus fever since the autumn of 1916. She has succeeded iu isolating a coccus (literally a. kernel), which is disc or biscuit-shaped, and in appearance much like the pneumococcus. The (germ was found in the brain tissue and spleen of 150 cases of typhus one hour after . death. The was' then grown in media compelled of a sterilised emulsion of pancreatinised spleen. Inoculation of guinea pigs with it invariably produced the symptoms of typhus fever. No vaccine or curative! serum for typhus has yet been found, buf\this7it is hoped, will develop from Dr KritchV discovery. Typhus fever, long known as one of the 1 greatest scourges in the world, is also known by the names of famine fever, hospital fever, spotted fever, gaol fever, and ship fever. Some works of reference tell us ‘‘that the contagion is communicated through the air, probably proceeds from tbo breath.” The Times medical correspondent' is deeply interested, though the work will require confirmation. Up till now the impression has been that what are known as Rickettsia bodies were the causative organism. Indeed, in the newly-published rej port of tha Typhus Research Commission of the League of Red Cross- Societies of Poland—a very careful account—it is categorically stated that Rickettsia Prowazeki is the causa of typhus. Even as things stand, however, it does not absolutely low that the Rickettsia bodies may not represent a link in the chain of infection, another link being the new coccus. It has been said* that a full- history, of typhus fever since the Middle Ages would be a history of Europe. It would certainly be a history of Europe's wars and famines, those twin breeding-grounds of lice, by which this dreadful affliction is carried'from man to man. In another sense the history of the disappearance of typhus is the history of /modern sanitation. England, once a home of “gaol fever,” for example, has scarcely seen a case for many years. , If the new germ proves to be in fact the cause of the disease, it may furnish us with a weapon against it. But for 'preventive purposes louse destruction is the great and only sure shield. For where there are no lice'this disease cannot spread. WRIST-WATCH NEURITIS. ■ Dr J. S. B. Stepford, Professor of Anatomy at Manchester University, records in The Lancet two coses of neuritis in the, hand caused by wearing tight wrist-watches. The first patient had a tingling pain along tho inner border of the baud and in the little finger, the persistence of which was causing him anxiety. A tender point was lien discovered at the apex of tho bony prominence on the internal surface of the wrist, pressure upon which caused pain to radiate into tho dorsal cutaneous branch of tho ulnar nerve. There was some small loss of sensation, but no paralysis or wasting of airy of the muscles of the hand. This localised neuritis was traced to the wearing of a tight wristlet and watch, the former producing compression of a brunch of the ulnar nerve as it curved round tho lower extremity of the bone. Hie pain disappeared when the wristlet was left off. The second patient complained of a tingling pain on the inner side of tho hand which accompanied movements of tho wrist. Tho localised point of tenderness was tho same as that found iu. the first patient, and tho sensory disturbances corresponded again to tho distribution of -the dorsal cutaneous branch of tho ulnar nerve. This patient had also worn a tight wristlet, and tho symptoms disappeared when it was discarded. The two cases were almost identical, and each being confirmatory \of the other, tho cause of the neuritis cannot be in dispute. These unusual instances convey a general warning against any form of constriction or pressure at points where nerves iie upon bone. Professor Stopford has himself soon clinical evidence of damage done by a tight sock-suspender, sensory and trophic troubles ensuing on tho outer part of the leg and on tho dorsum of the foot owing to compression of a nerve curving round the outer side of the neck of tho fibula or small bone of the log. Tlie neuritis produced is comparable in origin and development to wrist-watch neuritis, and Professor Stopford’s observations suggest that the rather common and (sometimes annoying little trouble among men of “pins and needles” in ihe feet may have no more recondite origin than tight sock suspenders.

Dt Haydn Brown, . a well-known nerve specialist, does not flunk that the average sensible person would enroly strap a wrist watch on so tightly as to cause neuritis. If they did do so, naturally the results would be unpleasant. “But though I laugh at the wrist-watch danger,” ho added, “in the same breath I will say that all over Knglandl there arb people who, though they may not know it, are suffering from the effects of tight collars. "When soft collars came in men were tempted to tie their tics into tight sailor knots, to make thorn look neater. These sailor knots are instruments of torture in hundreds of cases. There is not a hundredth part of the risk and danger from tight , wrist-watches that there u from tight neck wear.”

TTAV FEVER—A CURS.--, As the outcome of seven SHgeel v study end experiment a Harley street speeAalist is reported to have discovered* cure for hay fever, and to have Is ’ it so near perfection that jt is almost aiware successful. This distressing trouble reenrto from any undue irritation of the faeial V, and most frequently this irritation isjoentred? in the vestibule of tbe boss. The new treat i roent is aimed directly at that etmfay.'.ffiq skin is rubbed with a lotion, ef /whichffirt ■ main constituent is silver nitrate, jprartieili|o > attention boing paid to the two spate : the skin is generally tender- ThorchetoMßl application hardens the eiin coverings tithMspots, and thus lessens their ecnaitivei»M . to irritation. In extreme cases of hay fere* - an anaesthetic solution erf three British chainicals is substituted for the nitrate. InvJl cases i slight reaction follows this sppUcap . tion. but with further treatment it gradre ally lessens, until a state of complete in*munity from hay fervor attacks is reached. • After a ’ few simple nasal applications tire distressing eye sensation, the occasional blurring vision, and the general facial irritation entirely disappear. Experiment*' htfni proved that patients treated i about a ‘ month before the symptoms toe' due,, generally escape attack. Further research work ia being done in the hope that this may bo developed into a certain cure fan asthma. CARE FOR MOTHERHOOD. The Medical Correspondent of’The Timea, writes r—Very considerable anxiety is being' - caused at present by the continued high -incidence of puerperal fever. Although it, is , now well understood that antiseptic"method* ■ can reduce danger / from this infection rte vnniehing point, yet the number .of 'j. atoa - has been increasing since 1918. Tbat,it re to be feared, means that carelessness hsW , been increasing also, though another’ ho- I planation may be that the education given to midwives has fallen short in some important direction. Puerperal fever is by a germ, the streptococcus, which is übp'-'-quitons and which, unless strict antifleptio t measures are taken, constitutes a danger: at all times. It was this germ, among others, which used to kill so many of ths patients subjected to operation beforeldstrta . day, Npw a case which “goes septic” fftec ■ a clean operation is regarded with. - ths gravest disapproval by surgeons, -'The earns - spirit is required among those who; attend women. Week by week’the recqrf’.ci- OM ■ of this disease is published, and mil:continue to be'published, until the great lee son which Lister taught has bees learned by every woman—for all .women ought to - M instructed in so vital ak. matter. ?• The total elimination of this disease, whieH . accounts for half of all the casualties attend ing child birth, is a matter of organisation only. Few ills are so certainly POINTS FOR HEALTH,; ’ • Lecturing to the People’s League of on “Personal Hygiene and the Importance '' of Food and Sufficient Sleep, Standards,*)! v Living, and Family 'Welfare," Sir Thpmrei Oliver referred to the eseentdala of clothing >: as ventilation, moderate warmth, deanlineso. '• and freedom of movement. The gracfefu ■*. skirts worn by women to-day compared'moat ' favourably from a hygienic point of Cview ,v. with the number and weight of petticoat* ■ .worn some years ago. The short skirt ■*! - present worn was healthy; to lengthen-*6 ,- would only impede /he movement# of ‘ limbs, a circumstance not altogether frea from danger. On the subject of v was not altogether a question of the' amorftt , consumed, but how it was enjoyed, and absorbed.' Many women ate .'tab littaa, ■) A poor luncheon—a bun or two and .a eftp ■ of tea—was often the, cause of infiisporiiiasr fi: and physical unfitness for work on the part * of girls. Many young women inbuginsre':' had not got money to spend upon a wholesome midday, meal, but married -women, when alone at home, would hardly sit down rft to a sustaining luncheon. Sound boots wens jl also essential. No person could,-work-jiao- * perly when, owing, to leaking shoes' dr fyofftm, - th 6 feet were cola and wet. “L haye .often advised lady typists and shop assiatSjtfe',’' -t he proceeded, “to keep a change df etookitug/ end a pai* of shoes in the from the hygienic aspect of the snt>jfOt» ; women should' be particular 'about -their , feet. Neat feet were an attraction, - hot neatness must not be sought to he secured - ; by wearing boots or shoes' which-, : cooped ; T pain and led to deformity. Boots should make walking a pleasure. In'; adyqoqtipc : , personal cleanliness, he said that 'personal ablutions could be carried too far. Soma' -■ people took two or three baths daily. Tnkll ; was a luxury or a fetish, and not a -Jneqiri ■ sity. One of the impelling needaI’of 1 ’of fbm human body was fresh sir, end-plenty, ai ■ fit. 1 " \ MICROBE-MINCING MACHINE. ■ ' An extraordinary, little machine for: minov .. ing microbes has yneen seem by tire - Daily!' Mail medical correspondent the Pickets Thomson Research Laboratory in Si. FauPi Hospital, Emdell street, W. 0., , shown Jg; Dr David Thomson, director, of the laboratory. Microbes are so infinitesimally spuS that 5,000,000 of them in a mops?; an? invisible, and 1,000,000,000 are only, about fth| sire of the head ■of a small pin. '.To .cut microbes is, therefore, a difficult task, But \ this little electrically-driven machine sort ,:: ceeds in cutting or “smashing” them. There are two discs, one of which is stationary, while the other rotates. The stationary diofl ‘ has 70 tiny steel knives, and the rotating . one 80 cutting edges. The microbes; son pended in an alkaline liquid, ore /forbad :i against these cutting edges at a speed 'fl! 60 miles I per hour, with the result thpA 28,000,000 cuts are made per minute.;Dosing the 20 minutes the germs usually remain. in the machine they receive 560 million- ' cuts. But while some microbes are smashed by this process, others are so tough' that they come out whole and sound. A machine is therefore being constructed with 450 cut- ■' ting edges, which will whirl the microbes at the rate of 120 miles an hour, giving 600 million cuts' pet minute. In tbe British Medical Journal Dr Thom-' son explains the use of this machine. Inoculations against infectious diseases, -such as typhoid fever, can be made with germs containing all their poisons or with germ , from which the poisons have been removed, i If detoxicated vaccines ore used, very much larger doses can be administered, and tba larger the doae the greater is the protection , from the particular disease. ICES FOR HEALTH. A medical man, writing on ices for .hqaldy refers to the impression generally held (tin* we are internally much hotter in. the sum* , mer than in winter. "A little experiment with a clinical thermo meter will soon prove the contrary. Blood heat is more of lees normal in health all tbe year round ■' It is the surface of the skin which feehl the heat so intensely. It is all a question of radiation. In the winter we help to wam the cooler atmosphere, but in sum mar weather the atmosphere does nqt need oUC assistance, and we do not find it so easy f to rid ourselves of body heat. The heart in consequence has a little more work 'to do. Having (decided that ths digestiwa tract is not so intensely hot we can banish the idea that ice in summer is any more dangerous than it is in winter. The ,chdrf attraction about an. ice in summer is thafc it is a means of conveying liquid, and owing to the skin«just now carrying off so much of the water of the body, the general orgaa- . ism needs liquid in considerable qaaintitidk Also in the summer the mouth has a tere dency to get dry and the salivary glands sometimes do not respond to the sight ol food and drink as rapidly as they, should* The appearance of an ioe is usnaUy'to' attractive that the mouth waters —that is to say, the salivary glands get busy. Sinos the whole of 'digestion depends on tha , / activity of these glands it may be 'concluded that the sight of on ice alone to* considerable uses. If it ia sipped .the enjoyment is continued, and there seerqs very little reason to fear any dangerous result. The body lends itself to adaptation by slow , absorption.” CHRISTIAN VIEW OF HEALTH ■ AND DISEASE. The Bishop of Kensington, speaking undos the auspices of the Guild of Health, Bail that until recently we had thought/ abort health as material and of the body.' ■ : ®* had lost the truth that the body, mnst ba controlled by the spirit. How many peoplO. \ when ill, while calling in the doctor, though! naturally tofc call in also the pareou? Ai ■ the back of people's minds was tire, betwl ’ that God sends evil and disease. : Thai was not true. It did not follow that -ha-ca-uso drains went wrong and brought diph* tberia it should be put down to God : H was due ta( man, bis selfishness, his cnpjdifo : | iiia jerry-building. We should " never .*l>a healed if it were dot for the elan / vitelA, , the Divine spirit, working withip us 'fp* ' healt]n The new psychology hid' proved ‘i tliat, giverf" a fair chance, mind woe more ' powerful than hotly. Inside and outakte , the Christian churches there had been mart vj remarkable cases of spiritual healing. K we renewed the corporate faith of tbs : i Church to release the power of Christ- fok i healing there were no limitations to ths i Divine power. That was the teaching- of id the Gospel, We could not fight disease if we believed that wo were limited by cizertri ?S stances. But in union with the power d| S God we would fight and we would win. : ’ i