Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-12-14

lOSplldl, LII. w lllldlll ItOydl oIoheS,
Baltimore City bacteriologist, had
died of the disease, and fatal cases
were being reported every day in the
public press that DR.. Mccoy finally
closed the doors of the laboratory
and put the fumigators to work.
When DR.. Armstrong and another
stricken employe of the laboratory
had recovered sufficiently to renew
their experiments, their laboratory
was isolated from the public.
Conclusions reached after extern
sive investigation were not too
promising. Parrot fever, from par
rot to man mot from man to NAM :,
is probably the most contagious
sickness known to medical science
Although the serum from a recov-
cred person has seemingly cured
some cases. its value still is ques-
tionable. Serum from the blood
of recovered persons probably loses
its efficacy with the passing of time.
The Health Service, therefore,
makes no attempt to keep a supply
on hand in case of another cpl
demic. If and when such a time
comes new microbe' hunters will
have to take over the fight with
death.
Shortly after the epidemic of
1880 the Public Health Service took
measures to control the importa-
ton of parrots and State authori-
ties began to inspect those already
in the country for signs of the
disease. BY sacrificing for expert
mental purposes one-tenth of the
imported and home-bred birds, the
Health Service was able to stop the
spread OF the disease, though not
until 80 or 40 people had died from
its effects.
DR.. Armstrong; challenge to
death in the case Of parrot fever is
only one of six he has survived in
the Is years he had been with the
Public Health Service. While tour
ing government laboratories in Hol-
land shortly after the close of the
World War he contracted Holland
malaria and was seriously ill for
several weeks after his return to
this country. In 1924, while inves-
tigating an epidemic of dengue
fever in Louisiana, Dr. Armstrong
came down with this mosquito
borne disease.
The parrot fever episode came
next, followed a few years later
by an attack of encephalitis Gn-
f1ammatlon of the BRAIN, contracted
while he was making laboratory
experiments with the disease. Al
though there is no know cure for
this disease, Dr. Armstrong vas re-
lieved by extraction of fuio from
his spine. In a short time he was
out of the hospital looking for new
diseases to conquer. There followed
several years of health before DR..
Armstrong succumbed to Australian
@ fever, a type of pneumonia, which
was being investigated by his lab
oratory workers.
Contracted Tularemia.
Six months ago, DR.. Armstrong
was in Montana conducting some
experiments for the Government in
which it was necessary for him to
work with birds. He became seri-
ously i'll and was rushed to a hos
pitaal, where it was found he had
contracted pulmonary tularemia,
rabbit fever" After three months
in Western hospital, he was re-
leased for three-month GONZALES
cent period at his home in Chevy
Chase. This week he was back in
his Office for the first time in six
months.
1t might seem that DR.. Arm
strong's chief accomplishment for
the Public Health Service has been
the number of diseases he survived,
but the fact that he was awarded
the Sedgwick Gold Medal by the
American Public Health Association
in 1941 shows that his contribution
to medical science has been note-
worthy. He is now head of the
infectious disease division of the
National Institute of Health.
81 suppose the microbes will get
me one of these days." DR.. Arm
strong laughingly said. but I'm not
going to quit the fight. Like the
steeplejack who hangs from the sky
scraper washing windows. I know
that danger, perhaps death, is near,
but it doesn't worry me. It's the
only work I know and I love it."