The Washington times., 1915-07-27
NEW FOOT DISEASE
DECENES DOCTORS
MaIady, Brought to New York
From Russia, Frequently Re.
suits in Amputations.

NEW YORK, July 27.-Endarteritis
obliterans has appeared in New York.
Physicians who have come into contact
with II say II Is as bad as II sounds.
Partly because the disease has been a
comparatively little known among
English-speaking peoples, It has not ac-
ouired simpler or an English name.
At the Hospital for Deformittes and
Joint Diseases, twenty-eight cases are
being treated daily. The number. al
though small, is considered significant
because the disease was practically un-
known in America few years ago, and
even now SO little is known about 1t
that both physicians and laymen often
mistake it for rheumatism or gout. or
believe that the effects 1t causes are
due to broken foot arches until 1t Is too
late for any known remedy to cure.
The disease Is believed to have come
here from Russia. Poland. and parts OF
Austria, practically the only countries
in which It has been common In the
past. Its cause Is still In doubt among
physicians, but it's effect is to cause
first the arteries and finally the veins
of the feet or hands to fill with a
fibrous exudate and thus to cut the
blood supply from those parts. The re-
cases that the victim cannot sleep or
use the affected limb, and until recently
the common treatment was to amputate
cases Of record the disease affected the
feet rather than the hands.
The fact that practically all the cases
here have come from Russia mas led
ease in study of habits peculiar to the
native territories of the patients, and
out of this study have grown four
theories: They are that It is caused
by:
Excessive use of rye bread.
Excessive use of tobacco.
Excessive use OF alcoholic drinks.
The after-effects Of a blood disease.
In nearly every case, according to
physicians treating cases in New York
now. at least one or two Of these sup
posed causes can be found in the his
on. however. Is conducting experiments
on the theory that the disease Is due
to a germ.
OF the twenty-eight cases at the
Deformities Hospital all but one came
from Russia. Two cases are in hospital
wards. but the others have reached the
stage where it is possible for the pa
tients to 1--we at home and go to the
hospital only for treatment. OF the
latter several had their legs amputated
before later treatment was adopted at
the hospital. and who suffer pains in the
limb stvmps through an early spread
OF the disease beyond the point Of am
putatton.
The treatment used here is the lnjec-
tion two or three times a week of ten
ounces OF saline solution, under the skin
This relieves the pressure in the ar
teries and permits the blood to resume
its natural course.
TT will take time to show whether
this treatment will cure, or whether
It only relieves" a physician at the
hospital said. but all the cases have
improved remarkably under the
treatment. and several have already
been dismissed with. apparently. no
sign OF the disease remaining.
he important thing to combat tho
foothold the disease seems to b. gain i
ing in this country is not treatment
so much as education regarding
symptoms of the disease. The victim
first notices pains in his feet, which
he Is likely to attribute to any one
OF dozen erroneous causes. He Is
apt to wear arch supports or other
wise try to remedy the condition, and
instead of remedying 1t, to let 1t
grow worse. After a while, in many
cases. the foot turns purple. due to
the congestion OF blood. and the vic
tim cannot move his foot without
great rain. While there are other de-
ranEements that give somewhat SINH
lar symptoms, there Is a final symp-
tom that makes the diagnosis Of en-
darteritis otliteraps simple and sure.
sent. and a physician. by feeling the
arteries Of the foot. discovers that
the flow Of blood has ceased"
. The disease is somewhat similar to
senile gangrene, but the latter -
found only in old age. while endar-
teritis oSlitarans makes it's appear
ance in middle age.