Evening star., 1937-04-18
New MaladV
BY B Science
couhsE
Research Doctors Are
Exposed to Dead
ly Virus.
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had diagnosed az pneumonia. But
he was not satisfied. 1t was not
exactly like pneumonia and he was
worried. He discussed the peculiarities
Of it with his wife. He happened to
mention casually that there was
parrot in the family where the illness
had broken out.
why, read about some kind of
disease for which parrots were thought
10 be responsible, in Sunday supple
ment," his wife told him. I've got
1t here. You better read it," The
physician did and recognized the
symptoms at once as those of his
patient. At that moment, "psitta-
COSTS" became family by-word in
Annapolis. And its meaning spread.
For few years later people out
along the West Coast in California
began coming down with curious
type Of pneumonia that the doctors
were at loss to understand
The State Public Health Service
eent men out to study the epidemic.
They discovered that bird peddlers
were loading up their autos with love
birds, or parakeets, from bird farms
in Southern California, and starting
up through the State with them to
sell them. Purchasers began to came
down with the peculiar type of pneu-
monia known as psittacosis. The
clue came when one family disclosed
the fact that they had bought love
birds from a peddler and the birds
"had sickened and died"
When the Annapolis case claimed
public attention and subsequent ap-
peals came into the laboratory in
Washington, DR.. Mccoy sent DR..
Charles Armstrong-who has gained
fame for his work with virus diseases
and his isolation of the sleeping sick
ness virus and discovery of a new
disease called chorio-meningitis-to
Annapolis, to get strain" from the
infected parrot that had caused all
the havoc in the Annapolis household.
It was this strain that really started
something" at the Washington labora-
tory.
A SSISTED by Shorty" Anderson,
laboratory helper, DR.. Arm
strong began working on his infected
parrots. They were given an isolated
room in the basement in which to
conduct their experiments. Every
humanity possible precaution was taken,
The floors were swabped with creoSol,
the doormat at the entrance was
soaked with the same disinfectant.
Both workers changed their clothes
when entering and leaving. They
wore extra thick rubber gloves. But
In spite Of all this, in about three
weeks Anderson was taken Ill. Ten
days later Dr. Armstrong came down
with the disease.
In the light of what we now know"
DR.. Mccoy told me recently, these
two cases we're inevitable, for parrot
fever, like tularemia, is dreadfully
communicable. You just can't work
with it and not get it. But all the
nine others who came down in rapid
succession just had no business to
get it. They had not been near n
fected birds. They had not been
near infected persons"
Little wonder, then, that in the
white stone building Of the institute
workers began to wonder if the strange
'bug" that was causing all this was
actually afloat in the air. 1t was when
Armstrong was sent to the hospital
that DR.. Mccoy declared no more
people should be exposed. So he sent |
everybody away, had the place fumi-
gated, shut himself up and started
investigating by himself.
1--WE had to unlearn in this case"
says DR.. Mccoy. ut was thought
that psittacosis was due to germ, |
but our experiments showed that we
could not isolate any microbe. 1t was
a virus disease. That was the first
big step we took in finding out some
thing about it."
In spite of the fact that his COL
leagues warned him he should not |
risk his life any further, that he was
director of the place and they needed
him, Mccoy continued his experiments.
He cleaned the cages. He handled the |
sick birds He knew that from 20 to |
40 per cent of the cases were fatal. |
He knew Anderson had died Of the |
same strain that he was working on, |
right In that laboratory. But he kept |
doggedly on with his work. And he |
never got 50 much as a minor in |
fection!
WHILE they discovered that the
disease Is due to virus, they |
did not succeed in discovering much |
else about it, nor any cure, although |
the blood Of recovered patients was
thought to prove effective in many |
cases in aiding the recovery of a new |
victim. In fact, when DR.. Armstrong |
in the course of time recovered from |
his attack of the disease, it was his |
blood that was rushed by plane to
Mrs. William Borah, wife of the Sena-
tor from Idaho, when she was stricken |
with parrot fever in the West. And |
Mrs Borah recovered But Dr. Mccoy, |
precise and exact in his professional
statements, is not ready to announce
that it was the serum from recovered
patient that was entirely responsible
for the cure I'VE have to do some
more work along that line before we
can state positively that such serum Is
always effective" he states.
Psittacosis was first called "pneumo-
typhus" when it turned up in Ulster,
Switzerland, in 1879. In Paris in
1892 there was an epidemic of the
disease and in 1929 and 1880 it in
vaded many countries, brought in by
imported parrots or parrakeets. Ap-
parently healthy birds can be carriers