Evening star., 1941-09-20
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
Bu Thomas r. Henry.

Since early in August nearly three
fold the normal incidence rate has been
reported for the country as a whole, and
nearly double the rate for last summer
when autumn brought a considerable
! epidemic.
But nearly all the excess this year has
! been in a single State, Texas. This area
! has reported about 5000 cases out of
total of approximately 1000 for the
entire Nation. These figures, the Public
Health Service doctors explain, are prob
ably only a rough index. Physicians
hesitate to report a case as influenza
unless a real epidemic is in progress
in their neighborhoods. The attacks
appear to be mild since there has been
no noteworthy increase in the pneu-
monia death rate.
But when the situation Is viewed in
relation to that of last year it is not
very reasSuring In october year ago
| an outbreak was reported in Hawaii.
| 1t was brought to San Francisco by
sailors on a troop transport and spread
rapidly across the Southern States. BY
| late November it was raging in some
| of the Army camps in Texas and Ala
bama. There, apparently, it burned
| itself out. There was no real epidemic
| in the East or North, although an in
! creased number of sporadic cases were
reported. BY midwinter the incidence
was back to normal
| Now, Public Health Service doctors ex-
| plain, the outbreak of a large number
! of caSes-they hesitate to describe the
summer incidence in Texas as an epi-
| demic-in the same territory where there
| was an epidemic the year before may
be bad sign. 1t may be interpreted to
mean that the same strain of flu virus
| brought from Hawaii last fall did not
| burn itself out, but has had chance to
rest and probably increase in virulence.
This was essentially what happened in
the great 1918 epidemic. one, of the
| greatest disasters that ever struck the
| human race In the United States
| alone it took the lives of 100000 In
India, it is estimated, 100000 persons
! died. 1t all started with mild epidemic
| in an Army camp in Georgia in October,
| 1917, which hardly attracted any notice.
The Public Health Service epidemiol-
ogists are not predicting any repetition,
but they regard the Texas flare-up as a
| real danger sign which must be watched
| carefully. During the past week the in
| cidence seems to have come close to
! normal, but this is the time when the
| lowest incidence ordinarily would he
! expected. Any spread out of Texas will
! be cause for alarm Army camps, with
/ their close-packed barracks, are ideal
! stepping stones for the dreaded virus.
| Even if an epidemic should develop,
however, the Public Health Service
| would face it with confidence. Very few
| people ever die of influenza, per Sc. They
ole of pneumonia. Flu seems, in some
fashion which is not understood, to open
the path intoN the lungs Of pneumonia
| germs.
| In the great epidemics of the past
| there has been no specific treatment for
| pneumonia. Now the death rate has
been cut enormously by sulfanilamide
| and the related drugs A flu vaccine
developed last year by the Rockefeller
Institution works perfectly in test tubes,
| but has been only indifferently success
| full in tests with human beings Last
| years tests however, are not considered
| as in any way conclusive.
| But the Public Health Service phy-
| sicianS recognize that epidemics accom-
| pany wars. that the present war has
| been remarkably free of them to date,
| and that only extreme optimists can ex-
pect the condition to continue indefi-
nitely. If the Texas virus gets into
Europe with it's undernourished popula-
tions nobody can predict what might
| happen. They are urging local doctors
to forget community pride and report
any cases that appear to be influenza.
~ +*
Midsummers promise of one of Amer
icas most bountiful harvests is being
abundantly fulfilled as autumn starts.
September reports gathered by the
Genealogical section of the United
States Weather Bureau show that, with
a few isolated exceptions, weather has
remained more favorable than in any
recent year for wheat, corn and cotton
and for the sowing Of winter wheat.
Over most of the country the summer
has been warmer and much wetter than
normal. Only the Southwest expert
! enced temperatures somewhat below
average, but practically all the States
east of the Rockies have had more than
normal warmth. This has been eSpe-
cially true from the Central Mississippi
Valley northward and northwestward
and in the interior of the Pacific North
west where the thermometers averaged
from 2 to 5 degrees above the mean
temperature established over many years.
Charts prepared by DR.. j. B. Kincer,
that for the spring and summer COM
bined rainfall has been much above nor
NAL for the Western half of the country
and slightly below normal for the East
ern half. This deficiency has not been
enough to influence crops. The out
standingly dry States-Pennsylvania In
diana, Kentucky and Missouri had
|. about 80 per cent normal precipitation
For most of the country, however, the
dry weather has started just about when
it is needed for the harveSts.
In September, Mr.. Kincer points out,
the recession of temperature from sum-
mer conditions becomes quite noticeable,
amounting to 10 degrees in the North
ern portion of the country. In the ex-
tre,,1a South bouever tho month over