Evening star., 1948-06-23
Stors, Men ond Atoms
AIIergy May Be Based
On Mental Disturbance
ANA Gets Report on Experience,
With Patients Sent to West
By Thomas r. Henry

CHICAGO, June 23.-Allergy may be mental
actually due to family fights or business
troubles rather than to abnormal senstivity
to pollen or dust.
This was stressed before the American
Medical Association here today by DR.. F. B.
Schutzbank Of Tucson, Ariz, in q report based
on experience with patients who Nave been
sent to the desert climate of the Southwest
to escape the supposed causes of severe
asthma.
Sometimes they have marvellous recoveries.
DR.. Schutzbank said. simply because they have
left their troubles behind them Such persons,
he explained, may have IAN underlying in.
herited allergic constitution which manifests
itself only during periods of nervous and
mental strain or fatigue. When they are
helped by changing climate they merely are
getting away from the causes Of their nervous
or emotional instability.
Improved rs Stocks Rose.
They are potentially allergic, but they de-
velop symptoms only when under strain" he
continued. This is illustrated by a patient
who frequently had asthma when the stock
market went down and improved when the
market went up"
He cited the case of a woman who had
suffered from asthma for five years, almost
all the time since she had been married After
six weeks in Arizona she seemed in excellent
health and returned to her home in the East.
Almost Immediately the old trouble returned.
Her husband sent her back to Arizona and she
improved again. He decided for the sake Of
his wife's health, to move to the Southwest at
the sacrifice of his home and job. But as soon
as he joined her she became worse than ever
After divorce her ailment disappeared She
now lives in the East and there has been no
return of the allergy
Change of climate, Dr. Schutzbank said, "is
justified in the treatment of selected cases only
after the patient has been given the benefit
OF thorough study of his physical and psychic
environment. If this is kept in mind, more
patients can be successfully treated at homo.
Pollen and dust sensitive cases should be
carefully considered before they are advised
to change to the Southwestern United States
and the patients should be warned not to
depend on climate alone for magic cure"
Eye Disease More Prevalent.
A hitherto extremely rare disease which
causes infants and preschool students to go
blind is becoming much more common, the
association was told by DR.. Algernon B. Reese
of New York City. This malady Is retrolental
f1broplasia, an overgrowth Of flbrous tissue be-
hind the lens.
1t occurs enthusiastically. Dr. Reese said,
in premature infants. Usually both eyes are
affected equally. although sometimes 1t Ii
much more severe in one than the other. Us
ually 1t is not noted until the third or fourth
month after birth but, DR.. Reese said probably
the groundwork of the condition Is present
from the beginning. There is some evidence
that 1t may be due to an infection. Some
patients suffering from the disease show con.
siderable mental retardation. Only in rare
selected cases is there any benefit from surg
cry.
Isolation of Babies Urged.
Isolation of premature and new born babies
as means OF preventing pneumonitis, an
acute inflammation Of the lung which fire.
quently is fatal. urged by DR.. John NJ
Adams of the University of Minnesota Medical
School. The malady, he said seems to be
associated with mild or latent colds in adults
who handle the children
Experimental studies to determine the ac-
tual cause of the disease are now In progress
at the university, he said About the only
treatment which has met with any success Is
continuous administration of oxygen. Sulfa
drugs and penicillin have proved of little value
although they may do some good in prevent
ing complications, Dr.. Adams said. Premature
babies are especially susceptible.