Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-22
Unite in DenounCing Conditions
Under Which Clarence Bigby
Fights for Life.
URGE ISOLATION WARD
TO PREVENT EPIDEMIC
Health Officer Admits Presence
of Twelve Cases of Dread
MaIady in Atlanta. q

Prominent physicians Of Atlanta unit
| ed to-day IN severe condemnation Of
| the conditions which force fourteen
year-old Clarence Bigby. the doors of
every hospital In the city barred against
/ him and his life ebbing away in the
battling grip Of cerebro spinal menin-
gifts which periodically has ravaged
whole communities to lie almost neg
/ lected in rude unsanitarv room at
: the Union Rescue mission 2s4 Mariei-
Ia street where II not only is impossi-
biz to treat him effectively. but where
/ the danger of contagion is a menace to
/ the city
! Atlanta physicians agree that the
dreaded disease should be isolated and
/ that the city should provide a place
! where the cases may be taken that
there may not be a repetition of the
/ present situation which several of them
| describe as a disgrace to the city.
Although it came to light o-day that
there probably are a dozen other cases
of meningitis in the city in addition
to that of the Bigby boy. and that the
disease has already caused six or eight
deaths this spring. none Of the medical
men thought that an epidemic was
threatened like that Of about seven
years ago, when nearly zoe persons sue
| cumbed.
Wants Cases Isolated
| The city should provide a place
/ where cases of cerebro- spinal meningi-
| It's can be isolated and receive proper
| care" declared DR.. j. E. Paullin, pres
| ident of the Fulton County Medical So
! ciety. 81 believe the disease is highly
| contagious \ hospital or building
| should be set apart for this purpose.
as all the cases are hospital cases and
should receive treatment under hygiene
and precautionary conditions
Il would not say that the city has
/ been derelict. for no part Of the medical
/ prof assion has Acknowledged the dam
| gerously contagious nature of menin-
gifts until within the last few years On
| this account, the epidemic which At
lanta experienced several years ago
could not serve as the warning which
is before us now
Il do not think that people should he
alarmed, however. The cases in AT
lanta now | regard as sporadic and not
as indicating the outbreak of an cpl
domic. Should one come it would be
difficult to provide a place for the VIC
! Tins II it were necessary. probably
| within As hours the two abandoned
wards in the old Grady hospital which
formerly were used FOR colored patients
and which, ] think. are unoccupied.
could be prepared for use
Scouts Epidemic Fear.
| DR.. J. ?. Kennedy. city health Of.
| dcer was anxious that the danger of
an epidemic should not be overesti
mated. He said that the presence Of
twelve cases in the city at one time
was very unusual, but that he did not
in the least apprehend that an ep
demic would develop
Twelve cases is a large number
he admitted. but that does not an
proach the proportions of an epidemic
During the last epidemic there were 1870
or 1870 deaths and the year before that
there We're 200. There have been only
six or eight deaths from the disease
this spring"
DR.. Kennedy does not believe the
disease is contagious nor that there is
imminent danger OF the infection
spreading through the failure to isolate
the cases which have sprung up dur
ing the last few weeks in the city. but
/ he agrees with the advisa bifity OF pro
viding a special hospital or ward where
the cases may be treated
That the hospitals of the city are
most reluctant to have cases Of
cerebro- spinal meningitis within their
walls, he was willing to admit. De-
/ spite a feeling in some quarters that
contagion is unlikely. the physicians
! do not care to take chances on A
scourge that is more than likely to be
fatal and that frequently leaves It's
victims deaf crippled or suffering from
/ some affection of the spinal cord Or
/ brain if il does not XIII them. Seventy
patients died in the hospitals of Atlanta
during the last epidemic
Several in Hospitals.
Seyeradl persons with the malatv
have been received at the Grady hos
pita this spring, it is said but his 81.
CURED because the diagnos ~ taei,