Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-08-17
2 LITTLE KNOWN
DISEASES BEING
STUDIED In u. S.
By FREDERIC j.. HAsKIN

Washington, d. c., Aug. IL
The recent death of prominent
official of the Emergency Fleet
corporation of an ailment known
as San joaquin Valley disease To-
cused the attention or 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 or IT
in the fatal form has ever been
known to develop outside that
small section of California called
the San Joaquin valley. The dis
ease, however, while rare, is not
mysterious. 1t is caused by q
germ which medical science has
isloated and studied. The strange
thing is that though the disease is
contagious, its spread is confined
to a relatively thinly populated
section of California.
1t is not quite fair to California
to insist that the disease is pecu-
liar TO that fair region. San Joa-
quin Valley disease exists in two
forms: one is the fatal kind, in
NIllCIl lIlt 6tl III siIldtho Inv w
TINS lungs, the symptoms of the
illness being so nearly like those
of tuberculosis that physicians
have sometimes confused the two.
The other is a milder type, in
which the germ attacks the VIC
TINS skin. A number of cases OF
this latter type have been observed
in districts in the vicinity of Chi
cago. Attacks of this typo are not
likely to end fatally.
\ 1t also seems reasonable to sup
pose that America has no monopo-
ly of this affliction and that it may
exist and be prevalent in other
parts of the world In countries
in which the medical vigil Is less
expert and thorough than in our
own, it is quite possible that San
Joaquin Valley disease, as we call
it here, is annually claiming its
victims. At any rate, one undeni-
able case of it has been reported
in South America. 1t is entirely
within possibility that the disease
exists there but is identified as the
better-known tuberculosis.
That a disease may be wide
spread in a population and still
escape detection was demonstrated
in our own American experience
with pellagra. Only q Few years
ago this disease was supposed by
scientists to be exceedingly rare in
the United States. But as inves-
tigation proceeded, the surprising
fact developed that in reality it
was one of the commonest of the
diseases in the United States, thou
sands and thousands of Ameri-
cans, particularly at certain sea-
sons of the year, suffering from
it, and many being slain by it.
Twenty Years of Study
The doctors of the public health
service in Washington have been
studying San Joaquin Valley dis
ease for twenty years. In thai
time they have had the germ I'M
der the microscope, have grown
it in cultures outside the human
body have transplanted the in
lection to rabbits and guinea pigs,
and have given to it a literature of
considerable bulk. They have done
everything but discover a specific
cure .lOI lllt ulStdSt, Illt Z,
like that of tuberculosis, the germ
of which has also been isolated,
has eluded them. The victim of
San joaquin 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
disease was not difficult to dis
cover, for it is a vegetable form
rather higher in the scale of life
than bacteria and being close to-
yeast spores in characteristics.
These organisms are known as
blastomyces. Sunlight, fresh air,
and invigorating food, to which
the tuberculosis germ will often
yield, do not seem to have much
effect upon the blastomyceS.
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 valley is serving as res
ervoir of the contagion.
The public health service has so
many more formidable enemies to
human life to fight that it is de-
voting no undue amount of atten-
ton to San Joaquin Valley disease. |
In the twenty years since the dis
ease has been recognized. fewer
than fifty cases have occurred in
California. Consequently the peo-
pie of the San Joaquin valley de-
spite the malady, continue to be
good life insurance risks and can
go to bed of nights without worry
ng lest they be invaded by the in
lection which some branch of the |
native fauna is evidently carrying !
around.
Another Queer Disease
C much more concern to the |
public health service lately is an
)ther disease now prevalent in the +,
United States but little known to |
he public. This ailment is known |
Us clonorchiasis, or liver fluke dis
Ease. Although there are hundreds |
md even thousands of cases Of it .
low existing in this country. and .
he stage is apparently all set for !
t. not a single case of clonorchia-
lis has ever been known to develop .
n the United States. 1t is entirely
by it's victims, most If
lot all of whom are Chinese and |
Japanese. The public health sur
'eons estimate off hand that one
II every 100 Chinese in the United
states is suffering from it. Any
lien suffering with clonorchiasis
s barred by the quarantine regu-
atoms from entering the United
states, but the disease is often
lard to detect, and undoubtedly
numerous sufferers get in.
The scientists studying clonor-
hlasis have revealed the fact that
ature can Guido the most imagi-
lative novelist when it comes to
tretching the long arm of coinci-
ence. Most informed persons are
ware of the curious life cycle of
he malaria germ. which after
eaving the body of carrier, must
ndergo stage of existence in the
ody of a mosquito. The life cycle
+ the liver fluke, as the worm is
allied which causes this disease.
oes far beyond that of the ma
aria germ in completely.