Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-17
STAFF
TO RETURN TOF|GHT
Victims of Dread Fever Are
Believed to Be Less Liable
!. to New Attack.

Like soldiers seeking temporary shell
ter on q bullet-swept field. the staff of
the hygienic laboratory of the United
States Public Health Service is prepar-
ing to reform It's decimated ranks for
another advance against the invisible
hosts Of parrot fever micro-organisms.
Those who have contracted the dread
ed tropical malady, led by DR.. Charles
Armstrong. will return to the work
which already has placed them in the
shadow of death, as soon as they re-
cover suff1cient strength.
The laboratory Investigation of psit-
tacoSis has been suspended temporarily
rather than subject any new workers to
the germs. 1t is believed that the
victims will have acquired some i'm
mun1ty which will render them less
liable to another attack. They can
work with much less danger than a
new group.
Accept Program Like Troopers.
Apparently all the sick workers have
accepted this program as veteran troops
accept an order. DR.. Armstrong already
has returned to work, although still
yet taken up the parrot fever investiga-
ton. He again will work with the cul-
lures as soon as he regains his full
strength.
Undaunted in the midst of the casu-
alty-strewn battlefield stands the leader
Of the advance, DR.. George w. Mccoy,
director of the hygienic laboratory, and
hero of many other fights against dis
ease organisms. When DR.. Armstrong
StFiPknn al lHy
took over the most dangerous features
OF the work rather than subject any
OF his staff to the perils. Thus far he
has escaped.
There is one known remedy for the
stricken workers, q serum made from
the blood of convalescents. Public
health officers now are visiting recently
recovered persons to obtain more of
this. DR.. Armstrong has submitted to
the draining Of several pints of blood
for the benefit Of his fellow victims.
Effects Are Satisfactory.
The effects of the convalescent serum
are quite satisfactory, it was stated at
the Public Health Service today. It
brings about decided drop in the
| temperature In a short time, after
which the patient makes a slow but
uneventful recovery. 1t is not con-
sidered, however, as a specific against
the disease.
The Hygienic Laboratory was thor
oughly fumigated with cyanide gas
Saturday afternoon and was vacated
all day yesterday, with the windows and
doors open SO the noxious fumes would
be blown away. The workers are back
at their desks this morning and the
animals are being brought back.
This move, with the temporary sus-
pension of the parrot fever work, was
made necessary with the illness of the
latest parrot fever victims - DR.. Ed
ward Francis and DR.. H. z. HaSSeltine,
Public Health Service surgeons and
heroes Of previous battles with rabbit
fever, or tularemia and undulant fever.
Neither had been on the same floor
where the parrot fever work was car
ried on. Their sickness was believed
| to indicate that the microorganiSms
were being carried through the build
| ing by cockroaches or other insects
The fumigation was to kill cockroaches
rather than the germs.
No Suggestion Of Retreat.
Seldom has a little band of scientific
/ workers put up so determined front
against an invisible foe, it was made
clear at the Public Health Service today
Stricken right and left, there has been
no suggestion Of retreat even among
the non-scientihc personnel. The bur-
den of working out some way of treating
parrot fever, If pososible, was put
squarely up to the Government as the
mysterious malady spread and phySi-
clans from different cities asked advice
1t soon became evident to DR.. Mccoy
and his associates that they were deal
ing with something which could moi
/ hn lad hNy in0 w q
tory precautions and that contact with
the sick birds was not necessary to get
the disease. In this respect 1t was in q
class with tularemia.
They were obliged to keep on because
1t was q practical rather than an
academic scientific problem. In this
connection the Public Health Service
made known today the experience Of
the Lister Institute in London, which 9
months ago asked for some cultures OF
tularemia from the Hygienic Laboratory
for experimental purposes. Rabbit fever
thus far was unknown in England.
The cultures were sent with The
warning that anybody who handled
them was in grave danger, regardless
of any precautions. One by one thu
laboratory staff was taken sick until
considering that the problem was pure
ly academic with them, the English
psychologists dropped the work anC
destroyed the noxious cultures.
Two more Of the Hygienic Laboratory
non-scientific staff now are sick at theil
homes, but symptoms thus far are those
Of bad colds and their names will no
be given out until more positive dag
nosis is made. The condition OF thu
parrot fever victims was reported salts
factory today. It is believed thai
the diagnosis were made and the
convaleScent serum administered II
time to prevent any further fatalities
Thus far there has been one death
that of Harry Anderson, laborator!
worker.
The filterable virus already isolated
at the Hygienic Laboratory, it wa!
pointed out, offers nothing in the wa!
of q cure, but the work is one Of thu
necessary steps toward such an under
standing Of the disease from which Il
work out therapeutic measures.