The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-11-04

| ports made by the supeflnlenuenlS ol "a
| half dozen other state asylums similar
| measures have been taken in those states
| to combat the disease. And, more I'M
| portant perhaps, the United States Ma
| rine hospital service and the special pei
! lagra commission appointed by Surgeon
| General Wylam are already at work IN
! vestigating the disease.
| In the oourse of his remarks DIR. Ieller
| touched briefly upon hookworm and ere
| ated a mild sensation when he suggest
! ed that many thousands of the federal
| prisoners who died in the Confederate
! stockade at Andersonville, Ga, during the
| civil war were victims of the hookworm.
And, perhaps, after ALL" declafed DR..
! Zeller 1.-The monument recently erected
| at Andersonvile to the memory or Cap
| tain Wirz, commandant of the prison, Is
! not so much out of place as so many Oh
| us at the north have been wont to be-
| lieve."
| Columbia, S. c.. November S-"Pella-
| gra and hookworms travel hand In.
| hand in their death dealing work
! where the former is found, there also
| may be found the 4atter, in many cases
| at least, boring his way to the vitals
| of the patient and until the hook
| work Is routed the successful treat
| ment of the coexistent pellagra Is use
| less To attempt to battle against pei
l
| lery of the scientific world upon the
| hook worm."
] This new development in the investi-
| cation of pellagra was brought here this
| afternoon in an able paper dealing with
| this disease prepared by DR.. f. M.
| Sandwich of London Grsham profess
sor of physics, and which was read be-
7 fore the International Conference on
| Pellagra by Dr.. J. w. Babcock. SUI
| perntendent of the Southern Carolina
hospital for the insane and the prime
mover In the organization in the pres
ent meeting.
| More than $50 prominent physicians
| and scientists from all sections of the
| United States. and representatives of
| foreign governments are in attendance.
Sandwich Paper.
| Following is the paper of DR.. Sand
with:
| II feel that my first words must be
/ those of congratulation and encourage
ment to the many physicians in the
southern states who are now working
/ at the various problems connected with
| pellagra. Congratulation in the first
| place because they have discovered the
existence of the disease; because they
/ have Impressed this discovery upon
| others that the presence of pellagra
is now thoroughly recognized.
| IF l venture also to encourage
| American coworkers 1t is not with any
improper desire to draw attention to
my own work, but because l happen
to be In the unique position with re-
! gard to this one disease), of being able
/ to appreciate their difficulties.
'In spite of denials from American
auth critics on medicine, l have always
/ suspected that pellagra might exist,
unrecognized, in the south, and at one
time 1 requested my friends to put me
| into communication with the poorest
! folk of the maize eating districts l
was referred to settlement in eastern
Virginia for pauper negroes, but on in
vestigation 1 found that the inmates
/ lived in stone houses on pork ratiohs
and l came to the conclusion that the
| word poverty represented no condition
/ in America which could compare with
the misery OF the Impoverished peas
ants of Italy. Roumania or Egypt.
! I'm April, 1905. l had the good fortune
| to be at Boston during an epidemic
of cerebro spinal menegitis, and the very
J first patient whom / saw at the city hos
! pital by the courtesy of DR.. C. f. With
ington was an Italian emigrant, who also
] displayed a well-marked pellagrous erup-
I ton. This leads one TO wonder whether
the United States public health and ma
rine hospital service officers who examine
the emigrants at Naples and other Italian
ports should not include pellagra among
the prohibitory diseases
Diagnosis Established.
Now, that the diagnosis of pellagra
! has been firmly established in many
state. 1t would be we'll to find out for GER
tain how many persons are attacked by
! the disease in the south. In order to ar
! rive at any correct figures it might be
! we'll to institute compulsory notification
OF the disease at least a temporary
measure In Italy there has been law
! to that effect since 1888. 1t would also
recommend that agricultural laborers
! should be examined In the states where
pellagra is known to be prevalent, such
as Georgia and North Carolina and South
Carolina. This might be done In Febru-
! airy March, when the eruption is like
1 ly to be present.
! I'm 1901 and 1902 / obtained permission
! to examine 500 Egyptian peasants who
were actually at work in the fields. They
! all stoutly denied that they were ill. and
their employers, who were with them,
stated they could all do a fair days work,
! but in every field ] found early cases
of pellagra bearing from 10 per cent in
well-to-do districts to 81 per cent in the
| inhabitants of. the poorest hamlets.
THE treatment Of early pellagra cases
| without mental symptoms be
J cessfully accomplished by putting the
| patient on liberal diet, excluding maize
/ and by Kidding him of the hookworms
which are so often co-existent, but the
! pellagrous symptoms return If he is al
| lowed to resume diet Of musty maize.
! Various preparations Of arsenic are used
in advanced cases, but when the brain
Is attacked there is small hope for the pa
| tient. unless by serotherapy. Pellagra
| is essentially a disease which cries for
| preventative measures.
Mortality Reduced.
! ITALY, by preventive measures, has
since 1888 reduced the mortality of pei
lagra from 1888 to 1926, though during
the years 1893 to 1907 the maize area under
cultivation has increased from $40 to 6 SO
per cent of the whole country. This points
| to the moral that it is the quality not
| the quantity of maize which is at fault
| There are certain general axioms which
/ prove true in Italy and Egypt, and 1t
| will doubtless be found that they hold
| good in the United States also.
"a In districts where no maize is Gull
tivated or habitually eaten, pellagra does
not exist.
! "2. There are many districts where
maize has been cultivated for many years
| and yet pellagra has not appeared
80. Well-to-do people in pellagra dis
tricts living on varied diet and consuming
maize as an occasional and not as a
| staple cereal usually escapes pellagra.
| a. 1t Is not good maize or good maize
| -four which produces pellagra. The dis
ease requires for its production habit
ual use of damaged maize in some FORM
Public Problem.