New Britain herald., 1927-01-21
WH00P|NG COUGH
 DEADLY AILMENT
Caused More Deaths Than Scar
 let Fever and Diphtheria

Deaths from whooping cough in nine months of 1926 exceeded those from scarlet fever and diphtheria combined. Dr. R. w. Pullen, superintendent of health, declared today in message stressing the importance of pre- cautionary measures and of treat ment in the event the illness is contracted.
 His statement follows
 There still persists in the minds ot a great many parents the idea that the diseases of childhood must be suffered by the children. In some cases parents even go so far as to expose their children to scarlet fever. diphtheria and whooping cough so that they may have it and get it over with. This IS mistaken idea and must lead to dire results in many cases.
 Probably there is no disease, the danger of which is so much under rated as whooping cough. It Is quite evident from our records that a doctor is called only infre- quently for whooping cough. For example, at the present time we have on record 53 cases 26 of which were reported by agencies other than a physician, which fact shows that a physician was not called In tese cases. The parents apparently felt that doctor was not necessary for whoopng cough.
 With diphtheria a physician is usually called very early in the disease and this also holds true to fair extent with scarlet fever. It IS probably quite natural since dlphtheria appears very serious quite early in the disease. Scarlet fever has a rash and even though a child is not particularly i'll if the child shows definite rash the parents are quite likely to call physician.
 With whooping cough the situa- ton seems to be entirely different. While it is difficult to diagnose the disease early, even under the most favorable conditions. it is undoubt- edly true that most parents know when their children have whoop- ing cough. It cannot be supposed that parents do not recognize the characteristic whoop. But our rec ords would seem to show that even when they have recognized the disease as whooping cough the parents do not seek medical ad- vice in more than 50 per cent of the cases. In short, whooping cough seems to be considered of no particular danger. This is very grave mistake.
 The relative danger of whooping cough can be emphasized in very startling manner. Take for example this fact. During a representative period of nine months in the year 1926 there were more deaths from whooping cough than there were from scarlet fever and diphtheria combined. This should be convincing proof that whooping cough is dan gerous. It is true that there were more cases of whooping cough. Still the great number of deaths is cer- tainly very serious. Those deaths are not usually attrbuta ble to whooping cough itself but to complications which frequently develop in the un- cared for cases. Fortunately whoop- ing cough does not spread as easily or as rapidly as scarlet fever or measles. If such were the case con- trol of the disease would be very much more difficult. Fortunately for the children the disease is only mod erately communicable.
 When all these facts are consid- cred it seems entirely unnecessary that so many children should die as result of whooping cough. Prompt care will certainly be effective in most cases. and it would seem that parents have everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose by secur- ing immediate medical care for children suffering with whooping cough. To neglect this precaution may result in death of the child. If you have any reason to suspect that your child may be developing whooping cough by all means call physician immediately.