Evening star., 1943-09-30
End Of Tetanus
As War Scourqe
Is Described
Not One Case Found
In Poetic Theoter,
D. c. Doctors Are Told

hSStStF
D. c. Doctors Are Told
OF 27n0 wounded men treated at
a single mobile hospital during the
North African campaign only Q per
cent died, Col. Raymond E. Scott
OF the Army Medical Corps, COM
mander of the unit, reported today
at the opening session OF the 18th
annual scientific assembly of the
District Medical Society at the May
flower Hotel.
Those, treated at his unit, Col,
Scott explained, included Germans
and Italians as well as Americans.
The disappearance of tetanus as 4
dreaded scourge of the battle
fields was related by Capt. C. M.
Shaar, Navy Medical Corps, chief of
surgery at the Philadelphia Naval
Hospital.
mot single case OF tetanus has
been reported in the Pacific" he
said, "and I am informed there is a
similar report from the campaigns
In North Africa and Sicily"
Capt. Shaar attributed this largely
to the use Of antitetanus serum.
He estimated the mortality rate
among wounded seamen and ma
rines in the Pacific fighting at about
per cent.
Credits Use Of Sulfa.
This remarkably low rate. far be.
low that of any other war, he cred-
tied to the prompt use of blood
plasma and sulfa drugs and the
early transfer of wounded to base
hospitals by plane.
Maj. Brian B. Blades, Army Medi-
cal Corps, chief of the thoracic sur
gerry section at Walter Reed Hos
pital, told how surgeons at the front
could save the lives of men with
chest wounds by the use of such
simple equipment as a first-aid kit,
roll OF adhesive bandage and an
aspirating needle.
If a surgeon is familiar with the
fundamental physiology Of the
chest" Maj. Blades said, "the SIM
plest equipment is all that is needed
to sustain a wounded man through
the first critical hours. 1t is gen.
orally known that out Of all fatah-
ties for chest injuries, more than so
per cent die in the first 40 hours. II
man can be tided over those
golden hours, he has good chance
Of recovery"
Alright Dressing.
To prevent air from getting
through to the lungs and collapsing
them, causing suffocation, an air.
tight adhesive dressing often is
placed over the wound, he explained,
! and where air already has seeped
through, the surgeons have learned
to withdraw it by means of an aspi-
rating needle and syringe.
| Experience in this war has proved
that men aEith head injuries can
leave the hospital much sooner than
hitherto was believed possible, Capt.
pfn&6ell M. Craig, Navy Medical
Corps, chief of surgery at the Naval
| Hospital in Bethesda, Md, told the
doctors.
He explained the latest technioues
| for treating closed and open head
injuries, which he termed the most
serious forms of wounds with which
the medical services have to contend.
ThA general theme of the three
day assembly is Medical Progress
Since Pearl Harbor."
Afternoon Program.
Discussions of war injuries were
continued during the afternoon, with
scheduled addresses by Col. Lloyd
G.. Lewis, U. S. A; Dr. Robert v.
Funsten, professor of orthopedics at
the University of Virginia; DR..
Claude c. Coleman, professor of
neurological surgery at the Medical
College of Virginia, Richmond, and
DR.. Robert H. Ivy, professor Of
maxillo-facial surgery at the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania school of
medicine.
The scientific discussions were to
close for the day with paper by
Maj. Gen. Norman T. Kirk, surgeon
general of the Army, on "Sulfona-
mides in Prevention and Treatment
of Wound Infections"
At pm. a special scheduled fea-
ture was the presentation of medi-
cal and surgical equipment to set
up battle dressing station on the
cruiser Boston to Rear Admiral
Luther Sheldon, jr, of the Naval
Medical Corps. The equipment was
to be presented by Mrs. Fred San
derson, president of the Woman's
Auxiliary of the District Medical
Society, acting on behalf of the
Medical and Surgical Relief Com
mittee.
Wartime medical problems in gen.
eral and advances in laboratory pro-
cedures will occupy the meeting to-
morrow and Saturday.
Speakers will include Rear Ad-
miral Ross T. McIntire, surgeon
general of the Navy and personal
physician to President Roosevelt:
DR.. Thomas Parran, surgeon gen.
eral of the Public Health Service;
DR.. r. E. Dyer, director of the Ma
tional Institute of Health, and other
officials and prominent physicians.