The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-03-02
ALARMING DEATH RATE
Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis At
tacks Prospectors in Alaska.
A MYSTERIOUS DISEASE
Exposure, Fatigue, Anxiety and Poor
Food Very Great Factors-What
Medical Authority Has to
Say on the Subject.

To make it worse. the pilgrims that
endure the hardships and privations in
cident to a journey over the passes and
| trails of Alaska must take their
chances with disease that stalks over
that moss-covered region. 1t is noted
in the news from the interior of Alaska
that the dominant disease there is the
mysterious cerebro-spinal meningitis
Recent dispatches tell of an alarming
death rate in Skaguay and Dyea, II
fatalities being reported in "a hours.
Just why 1t is that this terrible dis
ease has fastened its fangs on the
| hordes of prospectors that are rushing
| into Alaska is causing more or less
| speculation among physicians and the
people generally. To give the readers
| of the Standard a clearer idea of the
disease and its symptoms and causes,
a reporter called on DR.. Spelnan, city
health officer and ex-president of the
State Medical association, to secure his
views of the matter. He said:
"Cerebro-spinal meningitis is an in
fictitious disease characterized by an in
Illumination of the coverings of the
brain and spinal cord. The specific
cause of it is supposed to be a germ
FleXper and Barker, who recently in
vestigated this disease at Homecoming
Nd, where an epidemic occurred, be-
lieve it to be due to lanceolate-s shaped
germ, but other germs have been found
after death, so that it may be said that
we have not definitely proved the spe-
enc cause of the disease These OBJ
servers believe that the disease germ
gains entrance to the system through
the blood, and attribute the continuous
current of the disease to 'predisposi-
ton of community rather than in
lection of locality
The predisposing causes of the dis
ease, according to various authorities,
are as follows: Country districts, con-
centration of population as in barracks
ana warehouses; moisture in the at
moSphere, poverty and overcroWding.
CNer-eXertion, as in prolonged march
es, has been noted by military surg
cons. The disease seems to be more
prevalent in winter and spring and in
very severe weather. General insani-
tary conditions also predispose, al
though it's origin cannot be directly
traced to filth
'Cerebro-spinal meningitis is a dis
ease of the present century, and If it
existed before ii was not observed
Vieusseus, in 1905 wrote the first clear
account of it, The first cases in Ameri-
ca occurred at Medfield, Mass, in 1906.
Since then it has occurred both in cpl
anu SpbTdulc form In various
parts of this country and Europe, usu-
ally extending over a period from 10
to Is years when in epidemic form As
TO whether it is contagious or not it is
difficult to say. 1t surely is not direct
~ so, for usually but one in a family
is attacked. The weight of evidence
seems to prove it is not directly con
tagious, though it may be carried by
the clothing. Hirsch has given re-
markable evidence to prove the latter,
and we find it very difficult to accent
the observation-disclosures of the disease
in the face of its epidemic prevalence.
The symptoms almost defy carefully
description: it has protean manifesto
tons and is best described in the words
of Stille, who well called 1t a cha
meleon-like disease. 1t is very fatal
and those who do recover have a long
and protracted conyalescence We
have no drug that will control it. and
the treatment is largely a symptomatic
one.
Willy it is so prevalent in Alaska. if |
that be true, l am not prepared to say, |
] see no reason why it should /
not exist there as well as in other parts /
or the world. Again, the exposure, ia 4
tigue. poor food and great mental anx- /
lety incident to the trip are very great I
factors which may act as predisposing
''Cerebro-spinal meningitis is one of
the most mysterious of diseases, asso-
ciated often with other disease, as
pneumonia, about which we know but
little, and for the cure of which we
nave still to bend our energies"