Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-09-28
So
PELLAGRA
WHOLE SOUTH
The Most important Health :
Problem Today. Says
Medical Journal.

900
the noncontagiousness of pellaSru
renders quarantine inadvisable and
unnecessary. and SO far as known this
measure has not been adopted by tx
perienced authorities in their strug
giles against the disease That heal II
authorities and physicians generaily
are alive to the necessity of vigorous
action. however. is shown by the IN
terest taken by them in the subject.
ION the other hand. press reports
and editorial comments indicate that
the public is becoming much exercised
over the situation. In an editorial in
one of the southern papers the silua
ton in North Carolina Is referred IT,
as alarming. and the medical proleS
sion is called on to devote more OF lis
time and thought to the problems il,
VOWED.
ION the whole, the pcllagra situa
ton must be viewed with serious Goa
Germ. The disease has been report ed
from more than thirty states. its area
is extending. and its presence il Il
menace to the physical and mental i.
tegrity of II large number of people,
Reports just received from Augusta
Ga. indicate that in that city at lcaS.
the disease is almost entirely conineG
to women. Although the disease is
reported to the board of health there
there Is no record of II child havin.-
had 1t. One man was stricken with i,
and died. but there Is no other il
stance of II male having been afflicted
with pellagra in Augusta
On the other hand. some fifty wom-
en- have been stricAcn there. Strange
ly enough. nearly all of these women
lived in one ward. Treatment seems
to be of little avail, and but few re
cove:ies are reported. Twin sisters
died In the Fifth ward of pelngra
within few days Of each other.
The board of health of Augusta has
taken no steps to fight the disease. the
authorities being at an utter loss as
to the best course 10 pursue. Local
physicians eagerly take up every new
remedy suggested by any medical au
thority whose name carries weight.
but the results SO far have been dis
couraging.
pellsgra In the Country.
In the rural districts Of Georgia con
dtionS are similar to those In An
gusta The physicians Of the Eighth
congressional! district met recently to
discuss the situation Those present
reported that they were attending
more than fifty patients suffering from
the disease. all of whom. with two cN
ccIltions were women.
Or Roy Harris. secretary of tho
state board Of health of Georgia. who
is one of the best known physicians in
the south. Is reported to have declared
that pel!agra is not Il contagious dis
ease ana results solely from eating
poisonous foods He says it is va
riety Of ptomaine poisoning arising
from the indigestion of corn produ Is
prepared from diseased grain. This l.
the view most popular in Italy, where
the disease has tluurished for centuries
1t is the simple ignorance Of the
people" according to Or. Harris. who
should be better Informed. that is caus
Ing the present agitation and fear OF
pellagra."
pr Harris declares that. although
the disease appeared In the south only
a few years ago. there are now at least
10000 cases in the southern states
alone The disease IL n most distress
ing one causing visible physical symp
toms which the layman cannot con
template with eQuanimity. while the
mental symptoms are such as to re-
quire the detention Of the majority Of
the victims in the state asylums. The
three state institutions in South Car
o,ine are now crowded with them.
Dr. Harris maintains that the state
Of Georgia could arrest the progress
of peIlagra and wipe II out In five
years by prohibiting the importation
of western corn. which. he says, is
badly damaged in the winter and then
shipped to the south. He asserts that
unless southern physicians can obta n
legislative assistance the fight against
the disease will be practically hope
less.