The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-03-18

was the same as infanfila
sis. The symptoms, II IN. s ssals.
out were greatly alike. IN ..'
OF the fact that they were A..
typhoid fever. Just a. - y
wfldered layman laid .s;s
statement in the pleasant IN.
tnat the mystery had been ~.
along came another from
other authority. ASSERTING ~
sleeping sickness wa NJ, =.
slightest bit similar to irs...s
paralysis: that one was : S,.
OF the brain, and the other : IL
ease OF the spine.
Never have doctors A,....
more widely. Not only do thss h
agree % to the cause Of ths ~ ss
ing sickness, but they disarrs. /.
10 Its symptoms. At first. Il ~.
Cd to be generally accepted thst h.
symptoms were: dropping eys,, ~ /
stupor. unconsciousness Of ~.
roundfngs, headache, and 4, ~
IRENE cases, coma, delirium sa.
vomiting. A few instances conn.,
before the public's attention ~.
cd to corroborate this. A e~.as
OF victims were picked up ~.
asleep In subway trains, and. NJ
refusing to b. awakened ~
carried to the nearest hnsn,s,'
where thew were at once diarso.'
ed a. sleeping sickness patient, 4
prominent city Official, q univ,,.
ity professor, and nearly 800 oih.,I
New Workers. fell into the sam.I
state. More and more are conti,s
ing to drop of into coma or uncon.
sciousness all the time, althosshI
it is expected that the epidem;cI
will decline with the approach d
spring. y
Sleeptness, drowsiness, thsn m.
the chief symptoms of the diseass
which DR.. Osler has described A.
"a difuse inflammation Of the brain
substance" Yet recently We have
also been informed that sleepina
sickness may not be sleepy at eli.
but may produce an extremely
wakeful state, in which the patient
is feverish and restless.
The Hiccsp Hague.
1t is all very bewildering, even
to the doctors, and now comes tho
hiccup epidemic to complicste mat
tiers. Are hiccups a part Of the
restless aspect Of sleeping sickness,
or are they a manifestation Of some
new and independent germ, work
ing on its own cratic course! No
one knows. We do know that
cases Of sustained hiccups have
suddenly sprung up both in Europe
and this country, and that some.
times they occur alone and unac-
companied by any other disease.
"Pathologically, this prevalence
OF hiccups seems to bs ASSOCIATED
with irritation Of the phrenic nerve
from neuroses, or from remote dis
from neuroses, or form remote dis
turbances of the central nervous
system not yet determined" says
one authority, writing for . nedi-
cal journal.
"In pneumonia or typhoid fever,
hiccups, perhaps due primarily to
tn, effects OF bacterial toxins. may
be a serious complicating factor
even causing death.
in the epidemic through which
we are now passing, many casei
have occurred in which patients
hiccuped every three or four sec
onds for periods of a week or long
er.
"Lhermitte points out that tht
first appearance Of the epidemic O
which he knows occurred In vi
emma in the winter Of 19l9-l9.e
Large numbers of persons ver'
suddenly attacked with spasms o.
ulCCupS anu ulu HU~ tCcPo"V ~
treatment. In most cases Che!
ceased of their own accord after
few days, but there was one cas-
in which they persisted for
month, the patient having only
few hours rest each day"
This authority also asserts thu
there have been hiccup epidemic
for centuries, none of which ha
ever been understood. The sam
mechanical therapeutic measure
have always been usd-pressure D
the eyeballs or on the spine; com
preston of the arms, swallowin
= chunk of bread and inf1uencin
the diaphragm by forcible fiexlon G
the legs. The same measures ar
used today. The only thing new i
the hiccup situation is its suspect
ed connection with encephalllls
which seems only to deepen IN
mystery.