The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-05-06
FACTS ABOUT MEN|NGIT|S
Disease That Is Epidemic In
the East.
MEDICAL SCIENCE IS
HELPLESS BEFORE IT

New York City soouroed With the
Dread Disease While Philadelphia,
Chicago and othsl Large Cities Have
Numerous cases-Best Medical Mon
Of the Age Striving to Find euro
for the Awful Plague.
With science helpless before its
ravages, with more than a hundred per-
sons a week succumbing to its deadly
effects with the danger of it spreading
beyond it's present bounds growing
daily. notwithstanding the warmer
weather, spotted fever, or cerebro-s spin
al meningitis, remains the inscrutable
mystery it has always been. Unless
some remedy can be found by the
commission appointed by DR.. Darling
ton Of the board Of health, the cpl
demic must simply run its course.
OF known cures there is none. All
that medicine can do to relieve the
suffering Of the patient by general
fever treatment and allow nature to
do the rest If the vitality Of the
patient be great, recovery may follow,
but If there be organic weakness Of
any nature, death Is almost certain.
The mortality among known cases
rates as high as IS per cent.
OF its causes science knows as little
as Of its cure. 1t is an Inflammation
Of the meninges, the covering Of the
brain and Of the spinal cord. Affect
ing the nerve alone it is simply spinal
meningitis. When communicated to
the brain as well it Is cerebro-spinal
and most deadly. It has all the horrors
Of the black plague, save that 1T Is but
mildly communicable, though isolation
Is considered g. wise precaution to
observe. Whence 1t derives it's fatal
virulence and how 1t obtains it's in
siduous entrance are equally unknown.
Its germ has been identified. In gen.
eral appearance it resembles closely
the bacteria Of typhoid and pneumonia,
though slightly different in form and
structure. Presumably it attacks the
membranes OF the nostrils and passes
thence into the brain. How it is car
ried into the nose is undetermined.
It has never been discovered in other
than animal organisms and then only
in small quantities with little vitality,
yielding readily to attack. Tho inao-
feasibility Of the parts affected no
doubt contributes largely to It's IA
tality.
The rapidity Of its development is
remarkable. 1t 1nantfests itself first by
headaches at the base Of the brain and
chills up and down the spine, then
by nausea, muscular cramps and stiff
ness. Spasms and delirium follow in
mtttently. At night the high Temporal
ture and delirium are extreme. while
in the day they abate, leaving exhaus-
ton and acute nervous sensibility.
Strong lights or noises irritate the pa
tient unbearably and every inch of the
body becomes sore to the touch. A pur-
pie rash breaks out, passing away
and returning without apparent reason.
The spasrns contract the muscles I'M
til the head and feet are drawn back
ward, forcing the body to arch like a
bow. These continue from time to
time. The disease continues from
twenty-four hours to twenty-one days.
and If not Terminated fatally. ends a.
suddenly as it comes. It generally
leaves some deleterious effect, and in
young children this not infrequently
takes the form of a. weak mind. As
1t most frequently attacks children
from 1 to years old this danger 10
greatly dreaded.
Through this suffering the medical
attendant can give relief only by dis
traction. Ice packs at the back of the
head. hot foot baths to draw the blood
from the head and opiates to deaden
the sensib1litfes comprise his main
efforts. While they help the patient
bear the pain they affect the dis
ease In no way. Injection Of anti-toxin
serum served effectually in several
isolated instances. and is used in the
hope OF giving relief and In the certain
ty of doing no harm rather than with
any real belief In its efficacy.
Neither is there any way to prevent
infection save by observing the ordi-
nary rules Of sanitation. 1t is not be-
lleved by authorities who have made
the closest study that it is filth dis
| ease, since the germ is never found
| In vegetable matter. Neither do they
place much credence in the theory ad-
! vanced by Professor Verrill, of Yale,
OF its spread by incubation by in
scots. 1t Is. OF course. possible for
fleas or other parasites to transmit 1t
| through blood particles, but 1t is con.
| sidered unlikely.
It prevalence in winter and spring
| would seem to indicate some relation tc
meteorological conditions, Yet the last
epidemic occurred in a winter the d.
rect opposite Of the present one, beina
warm and dry to an unusual degree
Whatever theory is advanced, it seems
| Is contradicted by some inexplicable
| circumstance.
Passenger Rates Reduced,
March 1 to May Is, inclusive, tht
| Great Northern railway will sal, 49,