NEW DISEASE IN EUROPE IS STILL A MYSTERY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15222, 21 May 1920, Page 5

NEW DISEASE IN EUROPE IS STILL A MYSTERY.

GENEVA, March- Si.— The .-League of j .Red .Cross -Societies Jn Geneva, .at the: head of which, is Hajpr-General . Sir .David I Henderson, does not yefknow howj to l cope with the terrible epidemics m Cen- ' 'trrtl Europe, particularly; with the epidemic of Spotted typhus. -The medical authorities m. the countries infected— all of wbat was once Russia,, Qalicja, .Poland, Rumania, Serbia, and, the. .Balkans, generally— have rtiade little headway m stopping the . spread of this .", deadly disease despite their great effort. "Tho art of killing," said a physician who has been visiting the- spotted typhus' countries, "has advanced greatly since ! .1914,' but not the; power of preventing epidemics/ which decimate . not , Only armies m the field, but also the civilian population at homo.' . , . .The various medical missions, whose ;members have. ■ risked- their 'lives iv attempting to -keep spotted typhuß m check, have not ascertained hPw it is. propagated, ; 'and consequently they do. hot know how j it can; best be combated: It is very con- ' tagious,, .and is spread by- lice, among other agencies. No matter what precautions doctors take m attending spotted typhus patients; a large number of them have,, caught the disease, Jn 1915, when Serbia had i her , second, outbreak; of this scourage, she .lost; . 140 of --her', -doctors out of a total of 350, while 120,000 civilians and,. 11,000 soldiers also perished. -. • The Bed Gross mission has found that it is countries of the mos Unsanitary and lovercrowded- parts'* of Central Europe m which , spotted .. typhus isi- most -frequent, and most, deadly. The death rate from it is of ton as much :as 55 per . cent., and higher ..in .the case of. elderly S r ictims are inclined, m the earlier stages, to commit suicide, and to be very violent; and m the- later stages to become torpid. The bodies of. those: who suffer from it become covered with spots and after tenth turn black, . -.-..-» In most cases, m the opinion of the medical authorities, 'the bodies should be cremated and not buried, and tho rooms , where patients have bpen lying should be | htoroughly . disinfoctedand bedding .and ■ clothing burned. But this is not always ; practicable and the result is that the disease continues- to be. spread by tho dead as well as by tho living. Besides this spotted typhus, there is m- ' flnenza throughput. Europe, complicated m certain cases with a form of sleeping -ickness, which is very often fatal. Even 'Switzerland, 'which, took no part m tho war and whose sanitary authorities'- 'are vigilant, is suffering from a serious •spidemic. - ' j