Evening star., 1938-04-06
REST IS ADVISED
FOR COLD VICTIMS
Sprays and Nose Packs
Often ProIong Infection,
Physicians Told.
By THOMAS r. HENRY,

star Correspondent CT The Star.
NEW YORK. April 6.-Treat q cold
the Harvard way-go to bed and stay
there.
DR.. Arlie v. Book Of Boston based
this advice, presented before the
American College of Physicians here
today, on experience in treating nearly
100 Harvard students admitted to
the college inflrmary with upper re-
spiratory tract infections.
Nose and throat sprays, ephedrine,
or adrenalin packs in the nose. one
or more of which now are almost
universally used in the United States,
often only prolong the infection, or
nay lead to something worse. DR..
Book warned and he himself had best
results with the students by going
back to the original treatment pre-
scribed by Hippocrates, the father Of
medicine, more than 5000 years ago.
The cause of various types of colds,
which account for about so per cent
of all the time lost from illness, still
is unknown, he stressed The one
thing certain is that the mucous
membranes of the nose somehow get
an infection. A cold will develop at
one time when at another time, un-
der the same circumstances, it will
not. Experiments are showing more
and more the extreme sensitivity of
this mucous membrane to all sorts of
stimuli. such as changes in tempera-
ture. But nobody knows just how it
acts to defend itself from an invading
organism.
Common Sense Antidote.
Under such circumstances, Dr. Book
warned, 1t is foolish to try to assist
1t and perhaps throw out of gear it's
own obscure, natural defense mechan-
isms. On the other hand. he stressed,
1t has long been recognized that a
person is most susceptible to cold
when tired and this role played by
the tension of living must be recog-
nized more generally" Somehow
when the nerves are fatigued the
mucous membrane doesn't have its
normal powers Of resisting and throw
ing off infections.
So the common-senSe antidote, DR..
Book said is the opposite to the
cause-rest to relieve weariness. Other
factors which apparently reduce the
resistance of the nose membranes
are chillS, weather changes, dust in
the atmosphere. And in all cases
there must be cold germs around,
whatever they may be.
The Harvard students given the rest
cure, he said. developed very few
mplications-the sooner the treat
ment was started the fewer. Among
the complications, however, were
about so curious cases of pneumonia,
upon which the college physician is
preparing lengthy report None of
the 80 types of pneumococci. the Or
ganisms responsible for this lung in
fection, could be found in most of
these cases.
He has gathered evidence to indi-
cate a virus pneumonia" another
disease due to the ever-present fl-
terable virus family which is respon-
sible for some of the dealiest of human
and animal maladies. In such cases,
Of course, treatment with any of the
type serums, now almost universally
used in pneumonia cases If they can
be obtained, would be useless
With the rest treatment, he said
none Of these pneumonia cases were
serious. Although in some Of them
both lungs we're involved they could
not be distinguished at first from
common colds, and in some of them
the only evidence Of the more serious
disease was the clouding Of the lungs |
revealed by X-ray pictures.
High Blood Pressure.
Some day it may be possible to cut
out both kidneys and graft in new
ones.
When that day comes high blood !
pressure-or the prevalent type known |
as essential apprehension" which is
becoming more and more wide
spread ailment in the United States
as the age of the populace Increases
may be cured by the surgeon
Just now there seems very little
to be done for 1t, either surgically
or medically, the College of Ply
sicians was told by DR.. Harry Gold
blatt Of Western Reserve University,
who reported on experimentally pro-
ducing high blood pressure in dogs
by clamping the arteries leading to
the kidneys.
For some time 1t has been recog- |
nized, and demonstrated by tests with
animals, that when the kidney blood
supply Is cut down some substance
is formed in the kidneys themselves
which is secreted into the blood stream
and causes the pressure to rise. This
substance, which never has been
isolated from the blood stream itself,
may be present all the time in minute
amounts and be an essential factor
in keeping the blood tension at a
normal level
Consequently all sorts of methods
have been used to counteract the con-
dition, which often proves fatal in
the end, by augmenting the kidney
blood supply through operations Of
nerves, glands, etc. In the past it |
has been difficult to test these with
animals. so the treatments have been
Of the hit-or-miss order.
After clamping the kidneys of his |
dogs-the clamps could be arranged |
so that the flow could be regulated |
about as he wished-and the expected
rise in blood pressure obtained, he
tried, one after another, all the sur
gical and medical tricks that have
been used on humans
Extract Has No Effect.
Use Of nitrates produced only
heeting effect. A drug. known as
thiocyanate, often prescribed by doc