Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1921-04-21

Restless Aspect Of Sleeping Sick
ness or a Manifestation Of Some
New and Independent Germ-TherG
Have Been Hiccup Epidemics for
Centuries.
Besides typhuS, New York has been
visited by two new and altogether
amazing epidemics this year. One Of
them is sleeping sickness and the
other Is that common and heretofore
Insignificant malady known as "hic-
cups" At least, so they are called.
but neither is running true to type,
writes Frederic ]. Haskin in Chicago
News.
For the sleeping sickness, which Is
now so prevalent in New York, Is not
the same rs the famous sleeping sick
ness Of Africa. the cause of which is
well understood Nor Is the present
epidemic of hiccups in any way re-
lated to those gentle attacks OCCASION
ally experienced by everyone, more es-
pecially since the pocket flask has be-.
come so popular. The new hiccups
are singularly malignant and persist.
ent, and are not at all humorous. They
attack their victim every few seconds
during the day. and are not always to
be suppressed by deep breaths, drinks
Of water, chunks Of bread and other;
well-known devices. Sometimes hic-
cup spasm lasts for more than an
hour, and the hiccup series extends
for weeks at stretch. :.
Both epidemics, affecting hundreds
Of persons, have completely bafIied
New York medical men, and all other
medical men. for that matter No one
has been able to discover how or
whence they came, what to do for
them while here, or how to get rid
of them. From the great medical re-
search laboratories of the city, such
as that Of the Rockefeller Foundation.
have come various theories as to their
cause. none of which has proved con.
vincing.
Two Are Connected.
The most interesting one recently
advanced Is that the two Affections
are In some mysterious and subtle
way connected-that prolonged at
tacks Of hiccups are merely one of
the many Irritating symptoms of Sleep
Ing sickness; yet this is by no means
unanimously accepted.
The only fact accepted without chal-
lenge concerning encephalitis lethar-
gica, which Is S. SIS impressive scien-
tific name, Is that 1t does not spring
from the same cause as the African
malady Of the same name. The latter
is known to be produced by the bite
of the tsetse fly, whose chief diet Is
the blood Of the crocodile.
Still, e. Lethargica must have
cause, and the medical profession Is
striving gallantly to supply It. Some
Of its members firmly believe that 1t Is
merely an after-effect Of Influenza, but
this does not help much, because the
influenza germ remains to be identi-
fed. Besides this. many others among
the profession are equally certain that
influenza has nothing to do with the
new affliction.
1t Is all very bewildering, even to
the doctors, and now comes the hic-
cup epidemic to cOmplicate matters.
Are hiccups a part Of the restless as
pect Of sleeping sickness, or are they
a manifestation of some new and In
dependent germ, working on its own
erratic course? No one knows. We
do know that cases of sustained hic-
cups have suddenly sprung up both
In Europe and this country, and that
sometimes they occur alone and un-
accompanied by any other disease.
"Pathologically. this prevalence of
hiccups seems to be associated with
irritation of the phrenic nerve from
gastro-intestinal disturbance; from
neuroses, or from remote disturbances
of the central nervous system not yet
determined" says one authority, writ
ing for a medical journal.
'In pneumonia or typhoid fever. hic-
cups, perhaps due primarily to the ef-
fects Of bacterial toxins, may be Sc
rious complicating factor, even caus-
ing death.
Lasts Week or Longer.
In the epidemic tnrougn Wnlcn we
are now passing many cases have oc-
Cured In which patients hiccuped
every three or four seconds for perl
ods Of week or longer.
"Thermitte points out that the first
appearance Of the epidemic Of which
he knows occurred In Vienna In the
winter Of 1919-1920 Large numbers
of persons were suddenly attacked
with spasms Of hiccups and did not
respond to treatment. In most cases
they ceased Of their own accord after,
few days.
This authority also asserts that
there have been hiccup epidemics for
centuries, none Of which has ever been
understood. The same mechanical
therapeutic measures have always
been used-pressure on the eyeballs
or on the spine; compression Of the
arms swallowing a chunk Of bread
and, influencing the diaphragm by,
forcible fiexion Of the legs. The same
measures are used today. The only
thing new in the hiccup situation Is
Its suspected connection with encepha-
litis, which seems only to deepen the
mystery