Woodruff County news., 1901-11-23
CANCER IS CONTAGIOUS.
A Fact That Is Becoming Substan- tiated by Well Authenticated
 Instances.

The theory that the disease of can- cer may, through certain media, prove itself infectious is one which is meeting with considerable atten- ton in non-medical as well as in med- ical circles, and the conviction is gradually spreading that houses, and more particularly individual rooms, may become infected with the germs of this fearful malady, says the London Express.
 Specific instances are constantly being cited in support of such an as- sumption, and one of the most telling which at present has come before our notice is that of two women con- tractiRg the disease after occupying house wherein four or five years previously a cancer patient had died.
 The remarkable part of this story is that third lady who had resided in the house between these two ten- ancies also developed the illness after an interval of close upon two years.
 To learn whether such instances are commonly recognized in the med- ical profession, or whether they are merely isolated examples to which no particular importance may be att tached an Express representative vis- ited several cancer specialists the other day.
 At the cancer hospital in Fulham road the authorities were reticent on the subject.
 "I believe" observed the house sur seon, cautiously, that cancer is not regarded as contagious in med- ical circles''
 A well-known specialist, however, who has devoted many years to an exhaustive study of the subject, was more inclined to wave the profession al etiquette which disallows con- versation with a layman upon mat ters medical.
 Il should be only too pleased" he said, "if this matter should receive the attention at the hands of the public which it undoubtedly deserves. For my own part, I am fully con- vinced that cancer, without being es- sentially a contagious disease, may under certain circumstances prove it. self infectious. Whether this view is generally entertained I am not pre- pared to state. Nevertheless I have no hesitation in asserting that before many years have passed precaution- ary measures will be adopted in the case of cancer patients, as they un- doubtedly will in the case of con. sumptives.
 There is nothing at all remark able in the instances voI rafar +o Only few weeks back my attention was directed to the case of a young and apparently healthy girl, who de- veloped cancerous troubles after sleeping in room wherein her mother had some years back suc- cumbed to the disease This might possibly be an herditary case, though the likelihood is considerably dis counted by the fact that third woman who occupied the room also contracted the malady.
 Such instances are becoming far too common to be disregarded. Thor ough disinfection would probably be an effective remedy, though it is nec- essary in the first instance to trace the actual causes of infection.''
 From seaside resort comes re- port of a family who stayed for a few weeks at a house wherein a woman had died from cancer about a year previously. A girl who occupied the patients bedroom subsequently, developed cancer, not a trace of which had hitherto existed in the family.