BLOOD AND HEART DISEASES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26349, 2 January 1947, Page 6

BLOOD AND HEART DISEASES

LARGEST CAUSE OF DEATH 1 IN AMERICA The United States has declared a full-scale war on diseases of the heart and blood vessels, which are the largest single cause of death in America. Half a million Americans die each year from these diseases, which include hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure, and haemorrhage such as that which killed President Roosvelt. As these diseases are more common in the United States than elsewhere, doctors suspect they may be connected with America's high tension way of life. An enormous laboratory is being built at the University of Minnesota to study cardio-vascular diseases. Research will aim to discover the relation of the diseases to diet, physical activity such as exercise, and the emotional states of human beings. An important new use of penicillin was disclosed recently by the council on rheumatic fever of the American Heart Association. Penicillin has been found effective not only in curing. but in preventing, one of the deadliest forms of heart disease, known as sub-acute bacterial endocarditis. Before the advent of penicillin it was almost always fatal.