The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1897-09-18
Wadsworth Dispatch,
PUBLISHED
$500 Per Annum.
is NOT HYDROPHOBlA.
The Danger From Dog Bites Has Been
Greatly Exaggerated.

The Danger From Dog Bites Has been
Greatly Exaggerated.
Every now and then one hears of the
death of a person who has been bitten
by a dog that was supposed to be mad.
Unless the case happens right in ones
own neighborhood it is hard to get at
the exact facts, and even then n Is IL
able to be deceived. DR.. Charles W.
Dulles of Philadelphia, a physician
who has made a special study of the
Eubject for 10 years andahassinvestigat-
I'd more than 1000 stories of alleged
h%ydrophobia during that period, has
J written to the New York Medical Rec
ord to say that he believes that there is
a good deal of unnecessary anxiety
about dog bites. 1t is worse than an
necessary, for in his Judgment q mis-
taken notion as to the seriousness of q
bite aggravates the patients condition.
In illustration of the latter theory the
doctor mentions two cases occurring
near Wilkesbarre, Pa, within a year.
A boy, having been bitten by a dog
that gave no sign whatever of being
mad, was sent to New York to be treat
ed BY the Pasteur method. He died,
sOon after his return, of a sort Of com
bination of paralysis and hydrophobia.
Another boy, a near neighbor, who had
heard the subject discussed and had
grown very nervous about dogs and the
possibility of being bitten. finally had
that experience about. a year after the
first occurrence. He, too, died within a
few weeks. A dog and several other
children which were bitten by the same
animal that attacked this little fellow
are alive and we'll today. DR.. Dulles
concludes from these facts that the two
boys really died Of fright produced by
sensational talk and treatment. If no
fuss had been made, he thinks the boys
would have got well. He e%ntertains the
same theory in regard to numerous
other cases. A distressing story has
been circulated within the last few
months about the death of four out Of
eight Baltimore children who had been
bitten by the same dog. Here again the
doctor attributes the tragicresult TO the
treatment and resulting scare, and not
to the bite. If there was any hydropho-
bia at all, il was originated not by the
dog, but by human agencies.
DR.. Dulles also reports u large num-
Der of cases of death after being bitten
by a dog which were due to pneumonia,
simple blood poison, dropsy of the lungs
or some other well known malady, the
truth being ascertained by a post MGR
tenn examination.
How easy it is to be mistaken about
an animal is shown by the following in
cident: One of DR.. Dulles own patients
was bitten by a dog, and the latter was
carried off to a pound, where it died.
Most people would have jumped to the
conclusion instantly that the dog was
mad and that the person who was bit
ten would die within a few days in a
most horrible N The pound keep
er declared, however, that the dog mere
ly had fits. and not hy~drophobia. and,
though the patients parents were fright
ened almost to death themselves, the
doctor allayed their fears and then pro-
ceeded to the much easier task of curing
the child. In other hands the case
might well have terminated fatally.
1t is a curious fact that those who are
most exposed to danger from what is
called "hydrophobia" suffer the least.
DR.. Dulles has made careful inquiry re-
gardiDg the dog catchers and pound
keepers Of large cities in Europe and
America and has been able to find
only one case of hydrophobia among
them. The attendants of the London
Home For Lost and Straying Dogs.
where over 200, 900 dogs have been
handled, have not once experienced this
malady. This certainly tends to show
how much the imagination has to do
with the matter. These people had bites
enough, hundreds and even thousands
Of them, but they Ibid not scare worth
a cent and suffered no serious conse-
quences.
1t will thus be seen that doctors and
parents who permit a child to be
alarmed after a chance dog bite are
likely TO produce death by their be-
havior, whereas there is not one chance
in many thousands that harm will result
if those who are associated with the
victim behave as if the incident was a
trifing one.-New York Tribune.