Evening star., 1921-07-27
MAY CALL MEETING
||NN PELLAGRA FIGHT
Health Service Head Makes
IIEReport at White House on
|. Situation Today.
NEXT WEEK
Surgeon General to Offer Advice
".t TO President as to Most
W. Effective Measures.

A! Effective Measures.
immediate steps to avert threat
!ened spread of pellagra in the south
Involving about 100000 peSsons Will
be taken by the public health service,
working in conjunction with the Red
Cross, it was announced at the office
of Surgeon General Cumming of the
public health service today.
An emergency committee. headed
nv Surgeon General Cumming. was
organized at a meeting held at Red
I'ross headquarters yesterday TO fuiiy
5nvestigate and devise measures to
cope with the disease among the
Farmers of the south.
: Will Report to President.
: Surgeon General Cumming was eX-
pected to go to the W hlte House To-Day
10 make direct report to President
Harding. and to advise the President
as to the proper measures to pursue
I'm the existing emergency. Gen. Cum
ming. il was announced at MS once
today is prepared to summon state
health authorities of the southern
states to Washington to attend q
conference on the situation a s soon as
he has communicated TO the President
his knowledge of the extent of the
disease and possibility of spread. The
conference will probably be held early
next week in this city.
: PellaEra is seasonal disease.
health s~vice officials said, and is at
Its height now. In August and Sep
aember the number of cases Will
probably gradually drop of. while
during the winter there are practi-
cally no cases of pcllagra. During
The summer months. it was said. there
Us always a heavy increase.
In the face of conflicting reports
from the south regarding the preva-
T. nee of pellagra. the public health
Service today explained the method Or
Which It's COMP on was base .:nd
ennou..crd .i,at IL would stand bN t:r
hSure - I.rOtC urrent cases ~ a
conSarvL'i!e IS, 'irate.
: Double Last Years Number.
Last year. according to DR. Long.
executive assistant to Surgeon G.h-
eral Cummings. the total numb1I Of
gases sl iriS tine WaS aa 'roxiu'a;eiy
so per cent of what ii is now.
: In only about one-third of the south
ern states is pellagra a disease which
must he repor' ac'ordinS to DR..
Long. and in the remaining two
t'Iirds, compilations are made by OFF,
4 ais of the United States public
C"al'h service. based upon experience
for ten years in the sections affected
sud ietn.,rd stulg o. the ratio
between deaths reported from pei
Ia. and the number of cases re-
ported.
Surgeon Joseph Goldberger. an ex-
pert in pellagra for the past ten
years. it was stated. used the census
feports on deaths and the reports of
state health officers in the states
where report of the disease is COM
pulSory for the basis of his estimates
According to officials the method Is
thiS:
Deaths and causes must be report
ed from virtually all sections. Mr..
Goldberger has worked out a ratio
between deaths and the prevalence OF
the disease. AS a result. when a GER
tain number of deaths is reported for
I certain period. general average Of
the number of cases fer that period
may be obtained from the use of this
ratio. This is the method by which
the estimate of 100000 cases, which
is said to be very conservative, was
compiled.
L. =. Omcinls Meet.
Surgeon General Cumming and Dr.
Joseph Goldberger, pellagra expert of
the public health service met in con-
ference yesterday with DR.. Livingston
Farrand, chairman. and other Red
Cross officials. The session was quite
lengthy and no Information as to con-
illusions reached was disclosed. The
response from the south was wide
spread and varied.
In all cases the state health officials
took vigorous issue with the reports
Of the public health service. which
has publicly estimated that due to
impoverished diet forced upon them
by depression of the cotton market
az least 100000 persons in the south
ern cotton belt would have pellagra
and that 10 per cent Of them will die,
DIR. Cumming said tonight however
that the public health service would
stand by it's figures.
Senator Dial of South Carolina said
Yesterday he was not an "alarmist'
and understood that a pellagra epi-
demic did not exist, but might be ex-
pected under the conditions prevalent,
especially among small cotton plant
ers. Senator Dial said that he knew
many laborers who have been laid of
Workmen and small farmers were be-
ing forced to economize on their
foodstuffs. Due to the enforced eat
ipg of corn products alone Senator
Dial said he feared that pellagra In
wide form may result.
:: Reports Protested.
Senator Harris of Georgia received
a telegram from the Atlanta Chamber
Of Commerce. saying: We strongly
protest published reports Of alarming
ptlld iitudCo anu SEMI COLI
ditions in cotton belt as unwarranted
by the facts and likely to prove an
other serious blow to the south Re-
ports to state health board show no
increase over last year and no pros
pect of such menace as indicated. Sit
uation certainly does not justify such
adverse comment"
Another telegram from Clark How
ell editor of the Atlanta Constitution.
said:
;'Bureau of health reports concern
ing pellagra conditions alleged to ex-
ist in the southern cotton belt does
great injustice to Georgia. These re-
ports should make clear just what
states are referred to. In original re-
port published last week statement
made by federal board of health that
Georgia having more diversified crops
was less affected than any other
southern state and that trouble was
confined chiefly to Texas. Louisiana
and Mississippi. This exception should
he emphasfZed since reports by the