Evening star., 1938-04-08

described before the American Col
lege Of Physicians meeting here today.
The most serious of these diseases
Is disseminated lupus erythematosus,
which kills 90 per cent Of its VIC
time, mostly women between the
ages Of 20 and so, and whose chief
superficial manifestation Il the ap-
pearance Of irregular red or purple
patches on parts of the skin exposed
to light.
The skin splotches, however, are
only one effect Of some poison or mi
mute organism in the blood which
attacks the whole vascular system,
causes LESSONS in the walls of the
blood vessels and usually ends with
fatal pneumonia. A few patients re-
cover spontaneously and never have
remissions.
There Is very little to be done for
it. Drs. Edward Rose and Donald M.
Pillsbury Of the University Of Pennsyl-
vania told the College Of Physicians.
It is likely to be mistaken, they stressed,
for another and more common form of
"lupus," which causes similar patches
on the skin. The two can be distin-
guished by the fact that the erythe-
matosus splotches take on all shapes
and sizes. while the others have a
regular dislike form. and by the in
testinal disorders which accompany
the more serious disease.
Diseae Easily Aggravated.
All the treatments worked out for
treating the more common form, such
as X-rays. a gold preparation, pulling
Of infected teeth and other minor op-
erations to remove foci of infection,
usually only tend to make this ex-
plosive disease worse, they pointed
out. The disease is aggravated by
light. The splotches first appear on
places most exposed to light, such as
the bridge Of the nose and over the
cheek bones. Occasionally appendi-
citis operations are performed and
make the condition much worse.
Often the disease has been at work
in the body for long time before it
appears on the face, they said. The
splotches are preceded by several
weeks Of general Ill health, pains in
the joints. easy fatigue and low fever.
Then an exposure to light or rubbing
Of some part OF the skin brings out
the real cause. Arthritis is q fairly
common accompaniment. There is
often pleurisy and peritonitis. Blood
seeps out Of the blood capillaries into
surrounding tissue. There are often
lung abcesses and gangrene. Heart
murmers often are heard.
It Is entirely possible. the two ply
sicians said. that the disease may be
more common than Is generally sup
posed since 1t may not always cause
the tell-tale skins patches.
Ulcers In Lower Intestines.
Another explosive type OF disease,
with some symptoms common to tu-
berculosis, Is chronic Lucrative colitis,
or formation OF ulcers in the lower
intestinal tract, which WAS described
by Drs. Arnold Bargen. Ray J. Jack
man and Jack G. Kerr of the Mayo
Clinic
1t is a fairly common malady and
is especially serious in children, where
1t runs its course and may cause death
in = few weeks. The older the victim
the better the chances In its full
minating course 1t Is likely to Be at
tended by bloody dysentery and fever.
The cause. the Mayo Clinic ply
sicians pointed out, is unknown ex-
cept that some micro-organism is
suspected. Treatment with various
serums and vaccines has done no good.
In a few mild cases good results have
been obtained with sulfanalimide. but
this does no good at all in the fulmi-
mating cases such as are found in
children.
They presented statistical data to
show that there is usually a history
OF some upper respiratory infection.
such as . bad cold. influenza and
pneumonia, before the onset OF the
colitis. 1t is very rare in the South
eastern States and, while cases break
out every month in the year, they are
much more common In winter.
They presented the evidence as
showing . possible tie-up because the