Evening star., 1913-12-07
Summer Heat and
Infant Mortality.


concentrated on better housing and prop
er Ventiiation. as Wen as on careful feed
ing and handling Of the infant. are the
principal points brought out by DR.. J. w.
Schereschewsky. surgeon Of the United
States public health service, who has
made a thorough-going study Of the di-
rect relation of heat and infant mortal
ity The conclusions Of Dr. Schereschew-
sky are based not only on the information
gathered in the study which he has made
in the United States but also on the re-
ports Of eminent foreign physicians who
have carried on similar investigations.
Forty years ago. says Dr. Schere-
schewsky. mo doubt existed, in this coun-
try at least, as to the direct effect of heat
in causing increased infant mortality in
summer. The discoveries and develop
ments in bacteriology and the study of M
fectious diseases, however, gradually dis
placed heat into the background as a di-
rect factor in the deaths of infants dur
ing the summer time. Until few years
ago the general opinion has prevailed
that. while summer heat stood in casual
relation to summer deaths, this relation
was by no means immediate. Heat was
regarded as an agent calling other dele
The public health expert points out that
recent observations,.h however, particularly
In Germany have reopened the question,
and that the consensus of opinion among
scientists in all countries now is that
there is most important relation between
the rise of temperature in the summer
and the rise OF rates in infant mortality
Stagnant air in poorly designed or
poorly located houses is direct cause of
the increase of the number of deaths
among infants in summer, according to
the report, which cites the results oe
extensive Investigations carried on in the
countries of Europe. Infant mortality
rates rise or decrease as the conditions
in individual homes and in section Of a
city are unfavorable or favorable for the
circulation Of air. Statistics show that
in very few cases do infants die of pre-
ventable summer diseases in a house
which is exposed on all sides to the wind,
but that the death rate is high in those
dwellings which because of their low
lying situation. their location in the rear
of other buildings or their shut-in style
of architecture were denied the access
Of cooling breeZes, or from the poor
location of the windows that thorough
ventilation was impossible. The report
the dwellings do not present conditions
favorable to the circulation of air in
summer.
1.-The means for remedying conditions
are plaln, COnIlnueS LIT. OCnereSCneWSky.
"They consist, hand-in-hand, with an
Improvement in housing conditions and
the development of residential suburbs.
in greater emphasis upon the care of
infants in their homes in the summer
months. When housing conditions are
bad they can be partly neutralized by
the proper care of babies in summer.
Mothers must be informed of the fact
that excessive heat is deleterious to in
fants, and when hot weather is present
special efforts must be made to prevent
overheating and relative overfeeding of
babies by the use of frequent tepid
baths, light clothing, fresh air, increase
in the amount of water given, lengthen-
ing of feeding periods and reduction in
the amounts of food. The advantages of
breast feeding are only emphasized by all
which has been brought out in the in
yestigation. Here nature automatically
modifies the composition of the food in
accordance with the heat in way to
which artificial feeding can never COM
pare" RAYMOND w. PULLMAN.