The Coolidge examiner., 1935-06-07

Gus disease, one
that we should try 10 avoid. by all
means. one attack does not mean
that you can have Immunity
against II. ms one attack Of measles
can give you immunity against sub
sequent exposure 10 measles, Pneu-
Inouia you can have time and again,
n YOU survive. There Is one in
stance on record OF person who
had twenty-eight attacks OF pneu-
monIa. and four to ten attacks are
not uncommon.
Pneumonia is a disease mostly OF
the cold temperate zone. but il oc-
ours all over the world. No place
is safe from il.
They have It In the tropics, and
get, strange as II may seem. there
are communities In the Arctic zones
In which pneumonia has never hap
pened until some person from the
outside world brought the disease
To them.
In this country 10 per cent of all
deaths In the period 19OO.1920 were
due to pneumonia. Children under
six years are especially prone to 1t,
and 500 are elderly persons For
some cause we do not yet under
stand. children between six and If
teen years OF age do not often have
It. But many apparently strong ath-
letes die Of II. We have reason TO
believe that pneumonia has been on
the decline since 1920, but we are
not positive. Pneumonia Is apt TO
complicate many other diseases that
would have had fatal termlna-
ton anyway. so that IL Is often
hard to say for certain In these
cases whether pneumonia or the
other disease is the immediate
cause OF death.
Many doctors have been trying 10
find cure for pneumonia. The
oxygen tent has proved beneficial
numerous times. but many patients
die even when given this aid. A
number Of doctors have given seem
lngly miraculous help by admins
terlng dlathermy. In the instance
OF pneumonia. this means heating
the sore spots In the lungs with
electricity. Recently a doctor in
California, of high scientific repu-
tation. announced that he had dis
covered n serum that can be used
Ia pneumonia prevention. II is too
early yet. TO say how efIicacious
this serum will prove. There must
still be many months Of experiment.
Meanwhile do everything you can
TO keep yourself from getting pneu-
monla. Children who have been Ill
with measles or scarlet fever or
any of the other infectious diseases
should be especially guarded against
taking cold that might terminate in
pneumonia.
Pneumonia germs, pneumococci,
are spread by discharges from the
mouth and nose, and enter the body
through the same channels. So
persons who come in contact with
pneumonia cases should be careful
10 wash their hands before touch
ing their own mouth and nose.
There are four general types of
pneumonia germs, and the bacteriol-
ogists can determine somewhat the
treatment.
But the discouraging factor in
the treatment Of pneumonia Is that
these types do not remain constant
In their degree of intensity from
year TO year.
Keeping up your bodily resist
ance is the best defense. In all
respiratory diseases we have learned
that 1t is very important that our
skin be able TO adapt itself quickly
to changes in temperature. The
person who stays indoors too much
during the cold weather is apt to
be as frail as a hot-house plant
when he goes out into cold air.
Keep yourself in such a good
state of health that you don't de-
velop a cold from the virus you
carry in your own nose. All OF US
have the "makings" of cold with
US all the time.
So long as we keep the cold virus
on the surface of the nose and do
not allow it to invade our body, we
will not have a cold. But If we
sit for a long time in close, poor
" ventilated and oyercrowded
room. we literally smother our
skins, for sitting still. we heat up
an air cushion around US that be-
comes saturated with moisture.
Then when we 90 into the outside
cold windy air, we have a sluggish
skin and nose circulation and we
"catch" cold. Or we might get a
cold from overeating or from hav
ing come in too close contact with
person who has a cold. Hardly
anyone can avoid a cold If he has
been showered sufficiently with
spray from a head cold sufferer.
A neglected cold can easily turn
into pneumonia, as we all know.
q. Western Newspaper Union.