The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-03-13
MENINGITIS FROM GREECE
SIN STEERAGE PASSENGERS DIE
ON THE STEAMSHIP PATHS.
Five We're sick on Arrival and Treated
With the Flcxner serum Here The
ship HAD Ncnc of the serum Aboard
--l:rcece Productive Of This Diseasc.

Sutp uuuU NVvtC VI WV SNEuVs sNVOatV
-Greece Productive Of This Dlseasc.
( From the classic port Of Pireus. where
once the trireme dreadnoughts OF the
Athenian war skippers assembled. and
from the less famous town Of Patras there
arrived yesterday at this barbaric port
the Greek steamship Patris with a tale
of stress and loss by disease Of six of her
$50 steerage passeng gers. all from the isles
OF Greece. The ships surgeon surmised
that three Of the dead Greeks. whose
bodies were weighted and sent to the
bottom of the sea. had died Of pneumonia.
Health Officer Doty found that the symp-
toms OF these three were the same as that
of the Others who had succumbed. the
surgeon said. to spinal meningitis. This
disease seems to abound in Greece. as in
the last several years nearly AL the deaths
on Greek ships arriving here have been
due to it.
All the dead aboard the Patris were
adults and all we're in the same compart- =
ment. Two died as the liner neared
Sandy Hook on Saturday night and the
skipper decided to bring them in. Health
Officer Doty held the liner up yesterday
and the two bodies. those of Andreas
Karkaoalatos. aged 30. and kalligse
Donkeli. aged II. were taken from the ship
to Swinburne Island. There was some un-
certainty about the exact nature Of the
disease that had carried OF the two Greeks
and DR.. Doty made very careful autopsy
and meteorological examination. which
clearly established that the cause OF death
was spinal meningitis.
Five adultpassengers. men and women,
had been removed from the liner because
of illness and when it was established
that the disease that had carried of the
ak was individually spinal meningitis
DIR. Doty felt somewhat pleased that he
had already applied the serum Of DR..
Simon Flexner OF the Rockefeller lnsti-
tute to the five patients removed to Hoff
man Island. The surgeon Of the PATHS
did not have any OF the serum. 1t might
have been possible to save the lives OF oil
the dead Greeks il there had been anti
ttoxin aboard. and it is likely that Greek
steamships hereafter will be supplied.
Within the last two years nearly all the
spinal meningitis that has come into this
country has been aboard Greek ships. and
there is an impression among physicians
who have made a study Of the disease
that 1t may be indigenous to Greece; at
all events, most Of II comes from Greek
ports and from certain localities in Greece
There 10 mystery about it's origin and
about the manner in which il is contracted.
DR.. Doty sdid vest erday that II does not
spread through ship like typhus. cholera
or smallpox. but seems 10 confine itself
to certain groups In which it appears al
first. DR. Flexner was even more anxious
than Dr. Doty to find the pedigree Of these
cases. and Dr. Doty will send TO DR.. Flex-
ner TO day a complete history OF the cases
on the Patris.
There seems to be no doubAthat Greeks
in certain sections OF their country are
peculiarly susceptible to the disease and
that ii is in some way not yet definitely
determined communicable. DR.. Doty
hopes to assist in finding out more about
it by paying particular attention to the
Greek ships that bring it here.
This morning he will go through the
steerage OF the PATHS again with his
assistants and carefully examine every
immigrant. II he should find any i'll
ness in the compartment where the
disease seemed to be epidemic he will
send the patient or patients ashore
1t is probable that the PATHS will he re.
leased from Quarantine to-day unless
there should be another outbreak of the
disease.
The serum Of DR.. Flexner. DR., Doty
said. had proved very efficacioiIs. Unless
the patient was at the very verge of deatl
he was saved by in0culation. DR., Dot,
was reluctant to talk about his own ex.
perience with cases of spinal meningitis
but 1t was said at Quarantine that most
OF the knowledge OF the disease was OBJ
tanned through the study OF it in the
steeraRe Of the Greek ships. The Health
Officer and DIR. Flexner have been il
touch on the subject several years, and il
is said that DR.. Flexner has hope o
finally discovering the origin Of the
malady and the subtle manner OF its
transmission. The five patients taker
from the ship and inoculated were doing
we'll yesterday. None OF them would be
alive il tho incessant storms that lam
basted the Patris had delayed her day
longer, 40 swiftly does the poison OF the
disease act