Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-17

Washington, ID. c., Aug. 14.-Ihe re.
cent death Of a prominent officai OF
the Emergency Fleet corporation OF an
ailment known as San Joaquin vailey
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 n has the
fewest legatees; for no case of it IN the
fatal form has ever been known TO
develop outside that small section OF
California called the San Joaquin val
ley. The disease. however, while rare
is not mysterious. 1t is caused by ?
germ which medical science has isolated
and studied. The strange thing is that
though the disease is contagious. Its
spread is confined to a relatively thin
ly populated section of California.
1t is o 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 tu-
berculOsis that physicians have some
times confused the two. The other is
a milder type. in which the germ at.
tacks the victims skin. A number OF
cases of this latter type have been oh.
served in districts in the vicinity OF
Chicago. Attacks of this type are not
likely to end fatally.
1t also seems reasonable to suppose
that America has nc monopoly OF this
affliction and that it may exist n be
prevalent in other parts OF the world
In countries in which the medical vigil
: g Lass a~na.% ,-l fknrnrnh fhon IN 0lT
own, it is quite possible that San Joa-
quin Valley disease, as we call 1t mere
is annually claiming it's victims. At
any rate. one undeniable case of it has
been reported in South America. 1t is
entirely within possibility that the dis
ease exists there but is identified as
the better known tuberculosis.
That q disease may be widespread in
a population and still escape detection
was demonstrated in our own American
experience with pellagra. Only a few
years ago this disease was supposed
by scientists to be exceedingly rare in
the United States. But as investlga-
ton proceeded. the surprising fact de-
veloped that in reality it was n of
the of the diseases in the
United States. thousands and thon-
sands of Americans. particularly at
certain seasons of the year. suffering
from it, and many being slain by IT.
Twenty Years Of Study
The doctors of the public health serv-
ice in Washington have been studying
San Joaquin valley disease for 20 years.
In that time they have had the germs
under the microscope. have grown ii
in cultures outside the human body
have ~transplanted the infection to rab-
bits and guinea pigs, and have given
to it a 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
eIuded 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 sub
ject TO it.
The organism which causes the dis
ease was not difficult to discover. for
it is a 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 bias
tomyces. Sunlight. fresh air and in
MIGRATING food. to which the tuber-
culosis germ will often yield. do not
seem to have much effect upon the
b~lastomyces. When these organisms