The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-02-14
STRANGE MALADY
SWEEPING HAITI
Doctors Unable to Discover the
Source Of Most Battling and
Fatal of Diseases.
WHITE POPULATION immune
Ailment That Kills 10000 Natives
Every Year Starts In the Fee;
and Spreads Upward, the
Body Becoming Swollen.

10
yH6 . VI @v U.s.
Port-au-Prince, Haiu.-The Ameri.
can occupation of Haiti has served to
direct medical research into one Of the
most battling and perhaps fatal mala-
dies known to modern medicine.
Haiti is land Of 100000 people.
The most conservative estimate, based
on IL months of historical research
into Haiti's mysterious disease, is
that million Haitians have. sue.
cumbed to the malady in the last so
years. Here where native productiv.
1ty Is truly synonymous with extrava-
CANT tropical yerdure, a death rate Of
10000 a year, or nearly 100 a month,
has not served to worry the nationals.
For the last five years American
medical officers have noticed that
lower caste Eaitians, sent to prison,
develop an alarming condition there
and die at rate Of from so to 80 per
cent Of those affected.
Only during the last y months have
the causes and effects Of these alarm
ing deaths been studied and recog-
nized as separate disease. The dis
covery was made year ago by DR.. w.
L. Mann, surgeon of the United States
navy, native of Austin, Tex, whose
naval rank is that of lieutenant COM
mander, supervising the entire medi-
cal department of the American-cOn
trolled Gendarmerie d'Haiti.
DR.. Mann is a graduate of Harvard
medical school, holder of several col
lege degrees and has spent the major
part of his time in tropical and sub
tropical countries His writings on
preventive medicine and tropical dis
ease and long experience equipped him
to point out this mysterious disease
soon after his arrival in Haiti.
Cause Undetermined.
Aided by the medical officers of
the gendarmerie In an intensive re-
search, DR.. Mann told the New York
Tribune correspondent here that
nothing has developed which may def
nitely determine the cause of the dis
ease, which If ascertained and meas
Nres taken to combat would result in
the saving Of possibly more than TO-
600 lives annually.
The disease has three manifesto
lions. One of the most notable symp-
toms is swelling of certain parts of
the body. The flesh becomes water
logged or "dropsical." 1t usually be-
gins in the feet and spreads upward.
Another form is the dry or enact
ated type. The patient shows marked
emaciati0n and dwindles almost to
skin and bones. Often dropsical
changes TO dry and vice versa. 1t is
not unusual to see a patient almost
living skeleton, then develop a wet
condition, and with the retention of
fluid in the body gain 20 or 80 pounds
in few days and become so swollen
up that recognition Of his features is
difficult.
One Of the mysteries of the disease
is that women seldom, II ever, con-
tract it. One medical officer in Haiti |
has observed more than 1000 cases
without finding single case among
females. At one time during Doctor
Mann's investigations women were
supposed to be entirely immune.
Finally three cases among women de.
veloped at the same dwelling place.
This combination of circumstances |
suggested disease Of an infectious
nature
Disease Appears Suddenly.
"A third manifestation of the malady |
is that which suggests plague. From
3 to rs per cent Of the fatalities
take place in persons who do not |
complain Of any symptoms. A per-
son will appear IN perfect health;
then, without warning, fall in faint |
and gradually expire.
Though the grouping Of Haitian ne
groes in prisons called Doctor Mann's |
attention to the disease, he is reason
ably certain that it is not due to con-
fnement, as in some prisons the NAL
ady is entirely absent. Before the adj
vent Of Americans in Haiti the pris-
ons were quagmires where prisoners
were thrown to subsist on food snug
gled in by relatives or starve. Today
under American supervision, the pris-
ons are models of cleanliness, but sani-
tation has not served to eradicate the
mysterious disease. Infection almost
has been eliminated by research as
the cause. Imprisonment possibly
aids the malady, but it is not entirely
responsible, as numerous natives who
never saw a prison succumb. Re-
search brought the possible cause to
the question Of faulty diet, especially
in prisons. On this question Doctor
Mann was noncommittal. As he ex.
pressed it: "The evidence accumulated
up to the present date regarding diet
as factor is conflicting and uncon-
Diet may or may not be at
fault, and / am not prepared to ex-
press a definite opinion on this sub
ject."
Many Leads Developed.
Dr.. Mann's researches have devel-
oped many leads, but when one theory
ronync RI havo Uivnn tho UroatoSt on. |