Evening star., 1935-05-04

Keep grandmother away from the
child with measles or whooping cough.
Common children's diseases, from
which the middle years of life are sin
gularly free, frequently reappear in
old age, DR.. o. H. Perry Pepper. pro-
fessor of medicine at the University OF
Pennsylvania. told the Medical So
ciety of the District of Columbia the
other night.
Whooping cough. said DR.. Pepper,
who is one of the foremost American
authorities on the maladies of the last
Years of life, is rather frequent and
often fatal from 70 to 80. The VIC
Tins frequently have had the disease
as children. It sometimes causes the
deaths of grandparents called in to
nurse ailing babies. Cases Of measles
have been reported at II and chicken
| pox from "a to 78. The old seem to
have lost part of their acquired re-
sistance.
Almost all old persons suffer from
chronic bronchitis and tuberculosis,
generally supposed to be a disease OF
early adult life, is far from rare among
them. Some say, according to DR..
Pepper, that more old than young die
of this malady.
There are, he said, striking differ
ences between the normal physiology
of age and that Of any other period
of life, and these sometimes lead to
neglect and wrong diagnoses. He sees
the prospect, with the increasing num-
ber Of old people, for as distinct a
science dealing with naladies Of the
aged as the medical treatment of in
fants has become.
A notable difference is the absence
| of striking symptoms. The body of a
young person reacts strongly when
anything Is wrong. But, DR.. Pepper
said, "the organs Of the old suffer in
silence" The body fails to give overt
signs that anything is wrong while
| the disease process makes headway.
Pneumonia, for example, Is common,
i but old persons sometimes die of 1t
without showing any symptoms. Gall
stones are more and more common
with advancing years, but they cause
| little pain. Acute appendicitis Is
common in the 70s and 80s, but the
onset is less acute and there may be
little pain. The same Is true Of can
Ger and ulcers. Often the aged will
| fade into death during GONZALES
cence from a supposedly mild illness.
The heart will fail without any pre-
vious evidence Of heart disease.
4 r r
A curious difference between youth
and age. DR.. Pepper pointed out, is
that the old endure surgical treat
ment much better than the young. but
aie much worse adapted to medical
treatment. Drugs of all kinds are
absorbed slowly by the system, fail to
produce the expected effect and,
hence, are increased. The result Is
that whatever poisonous effect they
may have is increased.
This is shown strikingly, he said,
| in the case of sedatives. Instead OF
quieting the nerves and producing rest
| they result in excitation. When the
| first mild dose fails to have the ex-
pected effect q heavier dose Is given.
All the time cumulative effect is
being built up which may result in q
nervous explosion.
It must always be remembered, DR.
Pepper said, that in old age the body
has learned to adjust to some of its
chronic diseases and Is getting along
about as well as If pathological con-
ditions were not present The dis
| turbance caused by treatment may be
| worse than the malady itself. There
Is need, he stressed, to make care
full distinction between the pathologi-
cal and the normal for various age
| ranges. For example, nearly ell old
persons suffer from form Of arthritii
characterized by q shrinking Of the
cartileges ef the spine and the loss
kof an inclato - IN haisht AL thS