The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1941-01-31
Curb Disease
In Modern w ar
Six That in the Past Took
Heavy Toll Said to Be
Under Control.

WASHINGTON Six of the d e
eases which in past great wars hay
taken more lives than bullets hava
appeared in Europe's present battle
areas.
But TO date each has been stopped
with apparently fair chances it may
not spread to dangerous proper
lions, according to information gath
cred by the Associated Press.
The explanations, promising some
thing new on the good side in war,
come from physicians of England,
Germany, Switzerland and France
Most Of the examples of the Ger
man cleanup of battlefields come
from Switzerland.
The diseases so far reported are
hu, cerebrospinal meningitis, ty-
plus, typhoid, smallpox and dysen-
terry.
These reports were gathered aft
er American physicians had sug-
geSted II is unusual and perhaps
significant that after year of war
no great epidemics have been re-
ported.
Situation in Britain.
Influenza and cerebrospinal men
nights are the only infectious dis
eases which have risen in England
In the present war. Better housing,
better food and improved prevent
i've measures are expected to hold
even those two in check
II think" a medical official eX-
planned, Eve are safe in predicting
there will never be in this war an
influenza epidemic similar to those
of 1918 and 1919
"A third of the population has
been rehoused since 1918 in cleaner,
more sanitary dwellings.
Another factor working against
disease is the large supply of food.
In 1918, when influenza struck, it
found a mighty ally in malnourish-
ment. Don't forget we then had "a
years of blockade"
CeTebrospinal meningitis, this Of
fetal said, is now treated with the
new drug sulfanilamide This has
cut its death rate from as high as
90 per cent, down to 20. and in some
hospitals to 10.
British medical and scientific jour
mails have commented on the surprise
when evacuated children failed to
develop epidemics Three of the
principal worries, measles, whoop-
ing cough and diphtheria, actually
dropped.
Statement From Germany.
German physicians on the heels of
the German army have operated SO
efficiently that up to now the usual
war epidemics have not occurred.
An authoritative spokesman said
today occupied territories received
special consideration. The Scandi-
navian lands, Holland, Belgium and
France, he said, gave comparative
~ little concern to medical authori-
ties, but Poland, where typhus is
endemic, furnished field day for
medical authorities"
Germans there encountered COndi-
tions which medical authorities de-
scribe as primitive Doctors who
followed the army into Poland re-
quired almost universal compulsory
vaccinations. Hundreds of medical
centers were set up for mothers and
babies, often in kindergartenS>
This authority declared the parts
of Poland under German domino.
ton are healthier today than year
ago. He said that while the army
medical service gives some atten.
ton to civilian emergencies, the mil.
itary is entirely separate from the
Reich's public health service and
leaves general problems to public
health officials.
French and foreign health experts
who have travelled through occupied
areas of France say German mill
tary and French civil and military
doctors have saved France from ep
idemics, and perhaps plaques, under
worst conditions of civilized times