New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-08-24
DIR. Plotz Asks
100 Million to
Fight Typllus
u. S. Health Official Just
Returned From Poland
Says Whole World Is
Menaced by the Disease
Endemic i'm Near East
Warns Nations to Fight
Peril at Source; Sees
Danger to United States

100000 and $780, 100000 with which to
delnic now sweeping Russia and Po-
land is almost certain to spread to
Western Europe and the United States,
according to DR.. Harry Plotz, distin-
guished laboratoran of the United
States Public Health Service. He re-
turned from Poland less than week
ago The disease is transmitted by
lice
AS lieutenant colonel in the United
States Army during the European
war, DR.. Plotz was in charge of the
entire delousing problem for American
troops at European and American
ports. 1t was he, as a staff worker
with the United States Surgeon Cen
eral in 1918, who discovered and iso-
lated the typhus germ which to-day in
Poland and Russia is eXacting a 25 per
cent mortality among thousands of
victims.
A World Problem
at is world problem which sooner
United States" said the doctor, speak
ing of the epidemic now rampant in
Poland and Russia. "Whereas, it has
been endemic in those countries for
years, it is now epidemic, and what we
desire to avoid is that it may become
pandemic is, world wide.
Influenza, which killed ten millions
of people. became pandemic because
1t was not struck at its source. 1t
started in Southern Russia and spread
throughout the world. A campaign
such as is now imperative against ty-
plus at its source would have saved
the great majority of those ten million
persons"
The latest work by the American
expert has been with the Joint Dstri-
button Committee, now engaged in
fighting typhus in Poland This COM
mittee is headed BY Felix NJ. Warburg,
o. New York. The absolute inability
of the Poles or Russians to handle the
epidemic brought him to the United
States for help.
From the standpoint of public
health. conditions in Poland are de-
plorable,' he declared in New York yes
terday. "Typhus is caused solely by
type of louise, which carries the germ
and transmits it to the human BODY.
The people of Poland have become so
depressed by war that they have lost
their consciousness of being clean.
They have no soap, even if they would
useoit. They think only in terms of
food. They have no wood coal or suf-
ticient clothing to admit of change.
1t is a common sight to see a mother
patiently picking lice from the head of
her child.
lyphus is a cold weather disease 1t
is epidemic now and will certainly be
worse this coming winter than ever
before. Last winter in Kicv. of no.
600 Jews who contracted typhus $4,000
died: There is no way to estimate the
number of deaths outside the larger
communities"
The American doctor investigated
conditions in Poland, Lithuania. Cali
cha, and the Ukraine. He is not in
formed of conditions in Soviet Russia,
though it is almost certain the cpl
cemic exists there as we'll. He is here
to advocate that the United States
take immediate cognzance of menace
which he says must be handled by
nations.
A Question of Money
There is only one way to handle
the problem" he said ct is a prob
lem of the nations and question of
money. 1t cannot be turned over to
the Polish government, or any of the
others. Harassed by war, they are in
capable. want to make it entirely
clear that the epidemic will recur in
greater strength this winter. II the
money cannot be raised by the nations
individually it must be raised through
the League of Nations. And it is my
honest opinion that it constitutes a
menace to us right here in the United
States, as we'll as to the remainder of
Europe. England is ready to CO.
operate. DR.. Norman White, of the
medical section of the League of Ma
tlons, is also favorable"
To strike typhus at its source is to
clean up the people; in other words,
to deliver them of their lice said DR.
Plotz. This can be done by bathing
them and steriizing their raiment in
delousers' under steam pressure just
as the United States Army was de-
loused. Ninety-fve per cent of the
American troops were infested with
lice and it cost the government almost
$1,000, 900 to clean them up. A general
sanitary campaign must also be con-
Quoted. he believes, because thousands
in Poland and Russia are living in the
most squalid conditions, many in caves.
The Bolsheviki are not gentle people
to meet up with" continued the doc
tor. "In Kiev several Americans. in
Guiding myself, saw among them the
fierce Tartars and Mongoians of semi
civilization. We were surrounded
there for forty-eight hours, but luckily
the. Polish troops saved the city. Poland
IS woefully short of medical supplies
At-Nilna the largest hospital has no
bandages at all and the surgical pads
used are made of dried leaves. Food
Il course, is also short. Poland is a
land where children those who have
survived-do not laugh or play. | saw
2,oOo sadly emaciated youngsters in o
great station at Kiev trying to eat
American oatmeal without spoons or
plates. They disposed of it with their
fingers from piles before them. Tuber.
culpsis is also rampant in Poland
Cholera and dysentery likewise exist.
"But the greatest menace" said the
American, sis typhus. 1t is now a
world menace"
Endemic on East Side
Dr.. Plotz isolated the typhus germ
in 1918. Later he was asked by the
Serbian government to help handle an
endemic rapiup in that coupt,y I,+o