The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1906-05-11
SPOT TED FEVER
This Dreaded Disease Appears
Again in the West
DOCTORS BAFFLpD
The Medical Fraternity Is Ra.lreEy at
gea Concerning Causes. 0 ,sln and
Nature Of the Disease. Natives
Generally Attribute 1t to
the Wood Tick.

sAeA'UsstS ~ w :
the Wood Tick.
Passed Assistant Surgeon King. OF
the public health and marine hosn{f-
al service, has just been sent from
Washington to Missou!a, Mont. to
tnyestigate new outbreak OF ''spot
ted fever" aid the medical world ia
once more up In tho air" over this
strange and deadly disease. What cause
ttp What will cure 1t? And what
will prevent 1t are questions that the
physicians have been valnly crying 10
answer for thirty-hve years, and TODAY
with Che history of hundreds OF cases
20 guide them, the learned fraternity.
10 as much In the dark as it was in the
early '7O's, whom the oattlemen OF the
Bitter Root valley fell victims OF the
malady. Under the various names of
"biack measles" blue disease, /" "black
fever" 'tick fever" and spotted fe.
ver," scores of doctors have inyestiga.
tad each now outbreak and generally
nave now come to the conclusion that
all the former Investigations mads by
their brethren were conducted upon
erroneous premises and therefore we're
just little less valuable than Of no
value whatever. In the frat place
nearly all the scientists agreed that
che common wood tick was responsible
sor the disease. In 1908 DR.. John It.
Anderson, Of the marine hospital SER
vice, wrote 80 page pamphlet on the
subject and said the tick was the
cause Two years later Or. Charles
Wsrdell Stiles, Of the same burea,
wrote q booklet of 12O pages upon tue
disease and de,lared that there
was nothing to support the theory
ohat 6he tick 10 to blame either for
Che fever's start or finish. After ex.
.mining the records of several hun-
dreds OF cases and personally w8toh-
Ing score OF 1t here. DR.. Stiles reaoh.
ed the conclusion that mo satisfac-
tory specific treatment is knownn for
the spotted fever, and added: II have
no new theories TO present regarding
he cause, transmission, and origin OF
the disease"
In spite of the fact that DR.. Stiles
d. IS not believe that spotted fever IL
~ ls0d by the tiok, throughout the
Western country where 1t is most pre-
valent, the tick is more than the rat
tlesnake. Many Of the pilgrims and
1wellers Ia the valleys nearly die from
fright when they find trick upon
dheir person and often when they are
bitten by the pestiferous insects, take
60 their beds, ooolariDg that death has
marked them, when they are really In
perfeot health.
In the Bitter Root Valley, which
many physlclans regard as the home
of spotted fever, nearly all the cases
occur on the western side OF the river
In the months o. April, May and June.
Both sexes and all ages are subject to
the disease, and, according to the REG
)rds, about 70 per cent OF the cases
termine In DEATH About five or six
days after being bitten by the tick,
which ID given credit for the start of
the disease, the patient takes to his
osd with heavy chill, headache and
osusea.. Soon after the spots begin to
appear upon the wrists and ankles
and later upon the arms, legs and
about the waist. Nosebleed, sore
throat, fever rising 10 106 at times,
and swelling Of the joints them fol-
low In succession or simultaneously,
and often hacking cough serves to
mako the patient moro miserable.
Of6en the sympl oms closely resemble
4yphuS fever and spinal me ingitis,
Or. Kings Investigations into the
causes and results OF the latest OUT
break OF the disease will be watched
With q great deal of interest by the
entire medical profession. The fact
that the fever has in recent years
often spread into Utah, Idaho, Neva-
da and Oregon from Montana, makes
each fresh appearances Of the disease
the more alarming. Unless a remedy
~ found that viii cure 1t, some physi-
CLANS believe there Ia danger Of wide
spread epidemics Cc,urring through.
out the West
Most OF tee doctors who have given
study to the disease agree THAT it ia
not contagious and that It occurs
chiefly In the months OF April, May
and June.
The spots that come with spotted
fever frat appear about the ankles
and waist and by the end OF the first
week they extend over the entire
oody. There Is no regularity about
their appearing on the feet firsp, as
some times the first spots appear on
the hands. The spots are a bright red
and are half as big as an adults finger
nall. The spots fade as the fever sub.
sides, but IL the patient ia exposed to
cold or becomes chilly the spots can be
seen for several monhtg afterWard, al.
though not as red as at first Tnere
ls much irregulsfity regarding the
disappearance.