The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-05-02

1t is a mild enough disease, but is
likely to scare the daylights out
of the inexperienced victim who
looks in the mirror some morning
after a kind Of restless night and
finds himself turned bright
greenish-yellow.
But you can't scare Grandma:
she has seen 1t before; she knows
it's just the yellow janders and 1t
will probably be good for him be-
cause he will stay home and do
the chores instead of gadding
about counting. You can't court
successfully when you are the col
or Of an overripe orange.
Just what the cause Of it is no
one can be sure. 1t is evidently an
infection Of some sort and it is
likely to be epidemic. Something
you ct, no doubt" is about as sci
entific an explanation of causation
as any other.
In the case OF lumbago we
guessed that the virus got in the
body either through the nose,
mouth, lungs respiratory chan
nels of entrance), or through the
digestive tract.
Through Digestive System
In the case Of jaundice we can
be pretty sure it gets in through
the digestive system. 1t manages
to pass the watch dogs of the
stomach juices which kill off most
infections and getting out into the
small intestines selects the bile
ducts by one of those mysterious
affinities of which Nature gives so
many examples and worms its way
up the bile channels all through the
liver. The lining cells of the bile
channels probably swell up and
eventually desquamate in a ca
tarrh Chat is why it is called
catarrhal jaundice), but while they
are swollen up they do not extract
the bile from the liver cells around
them and that dams back in the
blood and shows up as the yellow
discoloration in the skin We call
Jaundice.
There is always a preliminary
period before the jaundice shows
up, during which the victim feels
sort Of like combination Of hay-
ing had a house fall on him and
having swallowed a couple Of
sewers. He has little fever and
oh, boy! is he nauseated, and he
has a bad taste in his mouth that
is the bad taste to end all bad
tastes. Some inspired member Of
the household may aver that he Is
bilious and when the pile shows up
in the skin this is confirmed. After
the jaundice does show up the fe-
yer, nausea and prostratlon go
away and the bother is with an
other symptom-itching. Why bile
in the skin makes it itch have
never heard explained, but it does.
Treatment for Jaundice
The best treatment is probably
the judicious use Of good old Ep-
som salts. Here is where they find
their supreme usefulness. They
should be taken we'll diluted with
plenty Of water in the morning at
least half an hour before break
fast, and again before lunch and
supper until the jaundice begins
TO abate, then reduce to just the
morning dose. The diet should be
bland-milk and toast, cereals and
fruits. and some chopped lean
meat, and plenty Of sugar in the
coffee. Fats are generally advised
to be avoided.
There are a good many kinds OF
laundice and it is not we'll to mis-
take this one for something else
on the basis of self-diagnosis. This
epidemic type is painless, which
distinguishes it from gallstones.
The condition was first described
BY DR.. We'll, Of Heidelberg, in
1886. OF late some pseudo-scien-
tifc persons have hung the name
on form Of jaundice caused by a
spirochaete which IS spread by
rats and has death rate of 10 per
cent. But this is not Wells disease
at all, according to any reasonable
Interpretation Of his original ar
ticle. All Wells cases got well, and
he never mentioned, or perhaps
ever heard Of, leptospira.-So il
any one tells you when you have
plain, common, yellow jaundice
that it is dangerous because it is
WeIls disease. don't RorrV-"A