The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-08-17
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
RREDERIo ,. HARM, DGrectsE,
washington, D. O.
TWO RARE DISEASES.


of an ailment known as San Joaquin
Valley disease focused the attention of
the country for an instant upon that
strange and fatal malady OF all the
ills that flesh is heir tor American
flesh, at any rate-this one has the
fewest legatees; for no case of it in
the fatal form has ever been known
to develop outside the small section
of California called the San Joaquin
Valley. The disease, however, while
rare is not mysterious. 1t is caused
by a germ which medical science has
isolated and studied. The strange
thing is that tho the disease is con-
tagious, it's spread is confined to a
relatively thinly populated. section OF
California.
1t Is not quite fair to California to
insist that the disease is peculiar to
that fair region. San Joaquin Valley
disease exists in two forms, one is the
fatal kind, in which the germ attacks
the victims lungs, the symptoms OF
the illness being so nearly like those
of tuberculosis that physicians have
sometimes confused the two. The
other is q milder type, in which the
germ attacks the victims skin A
number of cases of this latter type
have been observed in districts in the
type are not likely to end fatally.
1t also seems reasonable to suppose
that America has no monopoly of this
affliction and that 1t may exist and be
prevalent in other parts of the world.
In countries in which the medical vigil
is less expert and thoro than i'll our
own, 1t is quite possible that san
Joaquin Valley disease, as we call 1t
here, is annually claiming its victims.
At any rate, one undeniable case or
il has been reported in South America.
It is entirely within possibility that
the disease exists there but is identI-
fled as the better known tuberculosis.
That a disease may be widespread
in a population and still escape de-
lection was demonstrated in our own
American experience with pellagra-
Only a few years ago this disease was
supposed by scientists to be exceed
ingly rare in the United States. But
as investigation proceeded, the sur
prising fact developed that in reality
it was one of the commonest of the
diseases in the United States, thou
sands and thousands of Americans,
particularly at certain seasons of the
year, suffering from it, and many be-
ing slain by it.
Twenty Years OF Study.
The doctors of the Public Heath
Service in Washington have been
studying San Joaquin Valley disease
for twenty years. In that time they
have had the germ under the micro
scope, have grown it in cultures out
side the human body, have trans
planted the infection to rabbits and
literature of considerable bulk. They
have done everything but discover a
specific cure for the disease. The cure,
like that of tuberculosis, the germ of
which has also been isolated, has
eluded them. The victim of San Joa-|
quin valley disease usually dies after
suffering for several years. A few
have vitality enough to throw it off.
Practically only adults seem to be
subject to IT.
The organism which causes the di-
sease was not difficult to discover, for
1t is vegetable form rather higher in
the scale of life than bacteria and be-
ing close to yeast spores in character
istics. These organisms are known as
Sunlight, fresh air, and
invigorating food, to which the tuber-
culosis germ will often yield. do not
seem to have much effect upon the
Whence these organisms
come to afflict man nobody knows.
but, because the disease they cause is
so sharply localized, the Public Health
surgeons suspect that some species of
animal living in the San Joaquin VAL
ley is serving as a reservoir of the
contagion.
The public health service has so
many more formidable enemies to
human life to fight that it is devoting
no undue amount of attention to San
Joaquin valley disease. In the twenty
years since the disease has been
iGSOSAAZCdg 1GWeI ludH lily Cases
have occurred in California. Conse-
quently the people of the San Joaquin
valley, despite the malady, continue
to be good life insurance risks and
can go to bed of nights without worry
ing lest they be invaded by the in
lection which some branch of the
native fauna is evidently carrying
around.
Another Queer Disease
OF much more concern to the pub |
lie health service lately is another
disease now prevalent in the United |
States but little known to the public. |
This ailment is known as clonorchiassS, |
Or liver fluke disease. Altho there |
are hundreds and even thousands of |
cases of it now existing in this coun- |
try, and the stage is apparently all set
for 1t, not a single case of clonorchiasis !
has ever been known to develop in the I
United States. 1t is entirely imported |
by its victims. most if not all of whom |
are Chinese and Japanese. The public !
health surgeons estimate offhand that !
one of every 100 Chinese in the |
United States is suffering from it. |
Any alien suffering with clonorchiasis |
is barred by the quarantine regula- |
lions from entering the United States, |
.ect, and undoubtedly numerous suf- |
ferers get in.
The scientists studying cIonorchiasis |
have revealed the fact that nature can |
outdo the most imaginative novelist |
when it comes to stretching the long |
arm OF coincidence. Most informed |
persons arc aware, of the curious life |
cycle of the malaria germ, which, |
after leaving the body of a carrier,
must undergo a stage of existence in /
he body of a mosquito. The life |
cycle of the liver fluke, as the worm
o called which causes this disease,
yoes far beyond that of the malaria |
germ in completely.
Suppose a fiction writer were to de- |
velop a detective story in which he |
would have the villain commit a muir
der in this way: The villain would |
mplant a certain injection in n dog. I
Then he would arrange it that the