The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-30
COOLER WEATHER ALONG THE VOLGA
 CHECKS CHOLERA
Famine Stricken Population Being Saved Only By Decided Change In
 Temperature

samsra, October 26-(By a Staff Correspondent of the Associated Press. )-Cholera has about run it's course along the volga for this year. and as the weather grows cooler Is disappearing very rapidly in spite of tho weakened condition of the fam. inine-stricken population and the ine sanitary condition of impoverished refugees crowded into camps where there is absolute lack of sanitary precautions,
 Vital statistics are lacking, bu' the testimony of medical men wha have wide knowledge of health con ditions in the Volga districts indi- oates that the death rate among persons who were taken with cholera ranged from 90 to 75 per cent. This was attributed to the undernourished condition of the population and lack of facilities to treat tho malady.
 Dr. Emily Burkhardt, Russian physician, who is now in the service. of the American committe for relief in the near east with headquarters in Tiflis, visited the famine area recently for the purpose of studying tho cholera situation. She is an ex- pert in tho treatment of cholera, and talked with many physicians and nurses who are battling with the disease in the famine area. The tes- timony of these medical men and women was that they were helpless because of the lack of beds for pa tients and proper facilities for their treatment.
 "The work of the doctors and nurses has been highly dangerous and hopeless" pr, Burkhardt said. "Underfed doctors and nurses who try to care for cholera patients without decent hospitals and every facility for protecting themselves against the disease know that they are really risking suicide. The greatest guarantee against cholera is d stomach filled with properly prepared food Proper feeding gem crates acid in the stomach which kills tho cholera germs and makes the attendants immune.
 Wears ago l saw one of my pro- fessors at the University of Moscow drink a puro culture of cholera germs to prove that persons who are in good health and properly fed have acid in their stomachs which com bats the disease. He suffered no ill effects.
 Undcrfed Prcycd On
 "The underfed medical men and women in the femine area undertake their task with the full knowledge that they risk death every time they touch a patient. Their hospitals are not screened. They have no saline solution and in most cases haven't the means for injecting it. They are without medicines and frequently without dlsinfectants.
 Consequently the refugees who get cholera must fight the disease as best they can"
 June was the worst cholera month along the volga During that month tho average number of new cases reported at Samara alone was about 200 daily. In July the number de- creased and in August was reduced to 30 d day. Soviet officials attrib- uted the improvement mainly to inoc- ulation.
 Screens are almost unknown In Russia. Consequently the great swarms of flies prevalent in mid summer doubtless did much to spread the disease. With the coming of au- trmn these disappeared.
 Every Russian railway station pro- vides an unlimited supply of hot water except in the form of tea water for travellers all of whom carry a tea pot and drink little Most of the cities have also provided barrels of boiled water for drink ing purposes ana have numerous hot water stations where boiling water may be had without charge. warn ings against drinking unbolled are nosted very generally about pub lic centers in the larger cities. But the inability of Russians 10
 their general indifference to sanitary nrecautions make 1t difficult to pro- rect them against epidemics