The Washington herald., 1918-06-19
Let Trench Lice Bite Them
That Fevers May Be Cured
Sacrifice of Sixty-six American Soldiers, Who
Submit to Medical Test, Is Praised By
Secretary Baker.

sixty-six members Of the American
expeditionary forces voluntarily baret
their backs TO the "cootie" or trench
louise behind the British lines in Jan.
uary and as q result today the secret
Of trench fever In known to medical
science. according 10 an announce
ment from the Secretary Of War yes
terday.
In the medical annals Of the wal
these sixty-six are heroes. as truly a.
though they had gone over the top"
Their achievement is ranked with the
work OF Walter Reed, who also d.
rected q fever squad from the army
in detecting the cause Of yellow
fever.
Trench fever has ragged among the
armies on the West front and, while
probably never fatal. yet through its
recurrent attacks has represented one
OF the greatest causes of disabilities
and consequent loss Of man power.
II may leave its victims permanently
unfit for military service, but in any
event the average loss Of time to each
man is about six months.
Animals wouldn't Do.
American medical science attacked
this problem Immediately on the ar
rival Of the expeditionary forces in
Europe. The problem presented two
angles: Was the disease caused by
germs, and IL SO, how was IL spread?
Attempts to use animals to solve
these were failures. No animals sus-
ceptible TO the disease could be found.
The "cootie" would not nest in the
fuzzy name OF the Missouri mule.
even though the bray had been sur
gically removed. nor in the long hair
Of the French poodle. though the hair
was SO fuzzy and tangled as TO pro-
tect 1t from the yapping teeth Of the
animal.
Volunteers were called for. and
the sixty-six barred their backs. Not
heroes Of the front-line trenches were
they. but members Of field hospitals.
ambulance units and other noncom-
batsnt branches OF the service.
They were picked from q big batch
OF volunteers as the healthiest and
huskiest specimens and best able 20
stand the long siege of fever Il was
believed that each little "cootie- car.
ried around in his shooting appara-
tus. Every shot q case Of fever
was the belief OF the doctors.
First to determine IL the disease
were q germ disease The micro
scope could detect no germs, but
many Of these are so small the
finest glass cannot ind them. So
blood was taken from men with
trench fever and injected into the
veins Of the volunteers. Out of
thirty four SO treated with the blood
or some Of its constituents, taken
from seven cases OF trench fever,
twenty-three developed the disease,
while fifteen out OF sixteen develop
ed the disease when treated with
the whole blood from trench fever
cases
Everybody Has sCoeties!-
It was proved Trench fever was
germ disease. But how trans
mitted? Everybody has "cooties"
In the trenches. from the command
ing general to the rookiest dough-
boy. It's the proper think and Il
can't be done otherwise. II IS dis
cussed at the breakfast table and
makes the ruling conversation at
afternoon tea. and IL your command
ing general at review seems sud
denly to twist his waist line in one
direction and his shoulders in the
other. q sympathetic wiggle Is like
iy to run down the line OF the army
for mileA Everybody's doing II.