Evening star., 1941-07-17

Ndt1OnS, Where a stan reduced now |
to only three, under the direction of |
Dr. Yves NJ Biraud, Johns Hopkins |
graduate, undertakes to map the |
ever-changing picture. 1t is from
their weekly publications that the
following picture is pieced together. |
Typhus Greatest Danger.
Typhus, the louse-borne scourge |
that wiped out sixth of the Ru-
manian people and killed from 12,-
100000 to 100000 Russians during
the last war; is the greatest danger |
and the greatest unknown. Stem |
ming more directly from mal,1utri- |
ton is tuberculosis, which is already |
on the increase and may be ex-
pected to go sharply up in areas
where food problems are especially
difficult next winter.
Measles has taken its toll, par
ticularly in England, where, like
everything else, the disease had
fallen into well-ordered, predictable
cycles, varying from area to area,
which have been completely upset !
by the shifting of bomb refugee
youngsters. Typhoid swept through
former Poland after the collapse of
the government under the pounding
of the German armed forces. How
many casualties it caused may never
be known accurately, but 5000 to
10000 persons are believed to have
died from this cause alone in War
saw. Eighteen months later saw
peremptory warnings about the
water supply through most of the
Warthegau.
Not directly attributable to the
war, but adding to the miseries of
Europes peoples, has been spinal
meningitis, which occurs in cycles
that rise and fall over several years.
1t reached a peak period, particu-
larly in the Balkans. from 1888 to
1910, and in March, 1910, an emer-
gency section of the Leagues Health
Committee sent out warnings to sew
eral countries.
Infant Mortality Scars.
1t is a tragic irony that while
typhus may have been held down,
since most of the refugee move
mentS came in the less dangerous
summer months, infant mortality,
closely related as it is to feeding,
weather and water supplies, has
skyrocketed in the wake OF the
migrant columns.
Eastern Europe and Northern
Africa remain the danger zones for
typhus. Health maps showing white
where no cases of the disease are
reported shade ominously toward
the Russian border and health eX-
perts suspect they would show black
on the other side i. the figures were
available. BeSsarabia was such
black spot until its reports were cut
off by the Russian occupation and
the Baltic states long have been
considered as epidemic regions or
places where the disease always
| exists.
Some 100000 persons have been
transferred in these Eastern Euro
pean areas as a result of the Nazi
reSettlement policies and while they
| have been quarantined for weeks in
| interim camps, 10 guard against
outbreaks, the danger persists. Re-
ports this spring showed consider
able increase in the number OF
| sporadic cases in the Warthegau
and the General Commencement, but
nothing which health experts yet
consider an epidemic.
Ghettos Visited by Typhus.
! Among the unknoWnS, however,
are the walled ghettoes of Warsaw,
| Lublin and Cracow, where hun
dreds of thousands of Jews are
| crowded into areas that can accom-
| modate only a fraction of their
/ number. A German-language news
paper in the General l-Gouvernement
! gave some hint of the situation last
spring, when it boasted that in
March there were only 224 cases of
typhus in Warsaw, of which 100, the
newspaper said. were inside the
ghetto. The German authorities
are carrying on extensive investiga-
tions in the control of the disease.
among other items offering Jews a
few Zlotys to permit lice to feed on
their bodies for the purpose of the
experiment-almost the only way
the Jews can earn money.
| Another of the medical mysteries
| of Europe is the fate of the thou
sands of refugees who fed the Ger
man army as it moved into Poland,
only to be engulfed by the Red forces
from the other direction and pre-
sumably compelled to spend the
winter with what little money and
clothing they were able to bring
with them into a region where
typhus is perpetually present. None
but the Russians know the answer to
| this.
Typhus is a disease of Wintertime,
when people wear heavy clothing
and lice-and it reaches its peak in
March or April, largely disappearing
in the summer. 1t is the early
spring of next year which the ex-
perts will watch most closely. 1t Is
related, also, to another European
problem-that of fats. No soaps, no
baths. lice. typhus-the cycle Is a
dangerous one.
Vaccines Developed.
North Africa's typhus, in Morocco
and Algeria, seems to stem more d.
rectly from the problem of food.
Each time there is reduced diet,
with its corresponding reduction in
peoples resistance. the reservoir Of
disease breaks through to the sur
face. This occurred already this
spring and the food situation there
has not improved. There were suf-
ficient cases reported, even in Spain.
last April and May, so that for a
while the closing of the Spanish
Portuguese border was contem-
plated.
Two factors mitigate against any
such widespread outbreaks of dis
ease, particularly of typhus, as oc-
Cured during the last war. One is
the development Of vaccines which
provide either temporary immunity
or greatly reduce the mortality. Both
| \ o,.,x.