The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-09-21
ANT|DOTE FOUND
FOR TRENCH FEVER
CAUSED BY GERM

The keenest in est was shown In
army medical circles here today over
the announcement that the cause. and
what appears to be a cure, OF trench
fever, which has incapacitated thou
sands Of lighting men at the 'front.'
has been discovered.
That a germ in the red corpuscles
Of the blood is the definite cause OF
trench fever has been satisfactorily
proved by an officer in the British
army medical corps. He has been
able to suggest a new line OF treat
ment which, in many cases, has al
ready proved effective.
Medical Men interested.
Medical men are interested in the
experiments being made to determine
whether or not the same treatment
will produce the same results in all
cases. 1t also remains a mooted Ques-
ton whether this disease can always
be attributed to the same parasite In
the blood.
Just what drug is being used as an
antidote to combat the disease has
not been made public by the medical
authorities
Getting at a real understanding OF
trench fever may mean much more to
the success Of our troops than the
layman can at first appreciate" DR..
Victor c. Vaughn. of the United States
army medical department, said today,
discussing the reported new dIscoV-
cry.
ut is one Of those new diseases that
80 often are first discovered in some
time of stress and never before
known. It is not deadly, but a soldier
affected by II becomes incapacitated
for several weeks and is a burden.
There are times when hundreds of
men in a command are made useless
for fighting. yet the trouble is only
temporary. At such times II would
be disastrous IL the full man power
OF the army was needed to combat
the enemy"
No Parallel Here.
DR.. Vaughn pointed out that the
disease had no parallel in this coun-
try, but that it was more nearly like
adenEue," a disease existing in some
Of the Southern States, which is a
fever that incapacitates the victim for
several weeks
As soon as trench fever has spent
itself the first time, DR.. Vaughn says
that relapses are frequent, and some
times the victims condition is worse
than during the first attack. These
relapses sometimes occur every few
days while the soldier is In the
trenches.
THE United States Government,
collaborating with our allies, has in
mind trench fever and the combating
Of all old and new diseases in equip
ping in France a great central medi-
cal laboratory for medical research
and investigation" said DR.. Vaughn.
$50 many new and unheard-of dis
eases have been discovered to the
detriment Of the men that this work
will be second in Importance to none.
AntIdote for Gas Bacillus.
Discovery has just been made OF an
antidote for gas bacillus which has
been causing such havoc among the
soldiers, and practical test will be
made shortly on men in the fighting
lines. 1t has already proven success
full in every test made with the
lower animals used as subjects at the
Rockefeller Institute, where II was
discovered.
american troops will be subjected
to many diseases which medical men
are not yet able to successfully
handle. but the conditions under
which they will live and fight will
be far more favorable than those that
obtained two or three years ago be-
fore antidotes had been found and
effective treatment and precautions
had been learned for preventing in
lection"