Evening star., 1933-06-03
YEARS FIRST CASE
Of SPOTTED FEVER
HERE IS REPORTED
Market Specialist in Agricul-
ture Department Is Victim
of Disease.
PHYSICIAN DESCRIBES
CONDITION AS SERIOUS
Health Service Doctors Declare
There Is No Occasion for
Public Hysteria.

washington's first case of Rocky
Mountain spotted fever of the season
was reported to the Health Department
today .,-.---'-
Frank Hubbard, 80, of 316 Quack-
enboS street, market specialist in the
Department of Agriculture, was named
as the victim In the report, made by
DR.. Frederick H. Morhart, 1704 Six
teenth street.
Terming Mr.. Hubbard's condition
very serious" Dr. Morhart explained
his patient contracted the disease
about two weeks ago, while spending
week end at cottage in Anne Arundel
County, Md. After a walk through
nearby Woods, Mr.. Hubbard found two
ticks on his body. He pulled them off
and thought no more about the matter.
When he became i'll last Friday, how
ever, and his temperature began a
rapid rise, he remembered the tick in
cident and summoned DR.. Morhart, who
has since been visiting him daily.
Although the case was the first to
be reported here thus far this year,
eight have been reported in Maryland
one of them in Somerset, just across
the District line. One of the Maryland
cases proved fatal yesterday.
Doctors Besieged for Advice.
According to officials of the Health
Department, spotted fever cases in the
District during the past two or three
years have averaged about 10 year.
Meanwhile Public Health Service doc
tors familiar with this disease are re-
ceiving continual stream of requests
for advice and for vaccination.
Faced with delicate vaccination
situation, the Public Health Service
emphasized there is no occasion for any
public hysteria when the peculiar be-
havior of the disease is taken into con-
Sideration.
Like its counterpart in the northern
Rockies, this disease concentrates in
limited areas, it was explained. The
trouble Is that these areas change from
year to year. The Mount Airey neigh
borhood apparently is one of them this
year. Last year there was a concen-
tration near Annapolis, but there is no
probability 1t VIII return this year. The
frequency of the malady is extremely
uneven, and there is little likelihood of
infection of any one living outside one
of the areas.
Vaccine Output Increased.
The vaccine, which is made only by
the Public Health Service under very
difficult conditions, has been employed
in the past only for the Rocky Noun
tain fever areas, but this year production
was increased enough to take care of
any likely emergency in the East. When
people call the National Institute of
Health of the Public Health Service
which carries on the spotted fever work,
it was explained, I'VE tell them hon.
estly just what we would do If we were
in their positions" Vaccination is ad-
vised, especially of children, if the per-
son lives in an area, such as Somerset,
where spotted fever actually has been
diagnosed this year. Otherwise it Is ad
yised against.
1t was emphasized that wholesale vac
cination of the rural population Of
Maryland would be inadvisable, even If
possible. It is not as good protection
as inspections for ticks twice daily.
Moreover, it was emphasized, there is
possible danger in any form of vaccina-
ton on a wholesale scale 1t is mat
ter for a physician to decide after care
full consideration of the local circum-
stances.
The experience with the Eastern
type of spotted fever during the past
three years shows it reaches peak Of
frequency about the middle of July,
after which there is sharp drop. al
though there may be occasional cases
through the Autumn Why the fever
concentrates in localities is unknown.
It Is a problem which the National In
stitute of Health is making every effort
to solve in hope the solution will pro-
vide a clue for the cure of the disease.
Increase Held Unlikely.
Because Of this "spotting" habit OF
the fever there is no great increase in
frequency from year to year and little
reason to predict more cases In Mary
land this year than last year. About
the same number of cases are expected
with a different distribution. This fire.
quency probably will not go much above
so.
Meanwhile the Public Health Service
doctors are concentrating on learning
all they can about the disease. Expert
ments just reported by DR.. r. E. Dyer
reveal spotted fever belongs to FAM
lily of diseases which are almost world
wide in distribution and which hitherto
have been wrongly diagnosed as forms
of typhus One mysterious and fatal
disease found in Brazil has been shown.
by experiments with guinea pigs, to be
identical with the Rocky Mountain
type. A less serious disease from the
shores of the Mediterranean turns out
to react in much the same way, estab-
fishing a probable relationship. All are
LaJ;o,oI 81 he iad bu firkc