The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-11-30
A Cure For Pellagra.

The government has officially announced the
discovery of dietary cure for pellagra, that mys-
terious skin disease which invaded the United
States little more than ten years ago, and spread
with more or less alarming rapidity. 1t has claim
ed 70 600 victims already it is alleged, and is act
i've in thrty-two states.
Lombardy leprosy, as it is also known, takes an
annual toll of so 600 lives in Italy, and has baf
fed medical authorities for nearly 200 years. 1t
plays havoc in many semi-trOpical countries. Not
much was heard of it in America until 1908, when
the serious hold it had secured first became mani
fest Since that time both public and private agen-
cies have been experimenting to find cure, and
now the efforts of the public health service have
been crowned with success.
The symptoms of the deadly disease are skin
eruptions like sunburn, and a wasting away of
the system with inertia and lack of vitality, fol-
lowed by a weakening of the mental faculties The
scourge has been ascrbed to various causes, such
as the consumption of bad corn, infected water
conveyance of the disease by insects and black
birds but medical research abandoned these rea-
sons one by one, agreeing only that it encOur-
aged by poor nutrition and lack of hygiene.
Starting from this basis the public health ser
vice began last year experimental cure of pa
tients at three stations in Georgia and Mississippi
After years dietary treatment the results were
ANNOUNCED as satisfactory, and no evidence of re-
currence this year has been observed in the pa
tients. 1t was established that persons whose diet
was of a starchy nature and lacked an unusual
proportion of protein seemed to be particularly
subject to the disease, while those whose food
tanned enough protein seldom were afflicted.
To complete proof of the cure experiment
was made upon eleven convicts in Mississippi which
resulted in giving six of them pronounced cases
of peagra Their diet for nine months Of
starchy foods, such as homny, corn bread, fried
mush, sweet potatoes, cabbage, rice, biscuit and
coffee heterogeneous foods, like milk, eggs, meats,
beans and peas were excluded. The results amply
demonstrated that the disease was caused by
faulty unbalanced diet
1t will be good news, if the medical have
made mistake, that the scourge has been track
ed to its lair. The whites have suffered far more
than the negroes and white women were oftener
afflicted than white men, while houseworkers were
more subject to attack than mill workers.
Pelagra it is stated, has been common in
the cotton country and mill settlements, and the
industrial depression following the panic of 1907
intensified contributory conditions The rise in
the price of food compelled sacrifices in diet Dartic
ularly in animal protein foods since they the
most expensive. The poorer people were limited to
a diet of starchy foods and they were the princi-
pal sufferers from pelagra.
Diversifcation of crops is part of the remedy
proposed by the public health service, and it is
likely to prove the most important and ficacOUs
Of the recommendations. Attention to the raising
of poultry, with stock raising for home consump-
ton and plenty of eggs and milk will be found to
be cure for much more than pellagra.