Evening star., 1954-09-29
Three New Diseases
Of Nerve Are Reported
MoIodies Often Are Fotol.
Results of Research Show
By Thomas R. Henry

Three new nervous system diseases.
often fatal. have appeared in the world.
A malady generally ending In death
snd which may be due to an oversensi-
tivity to biotics such as Streptomycin or
to sulfa drugs. is described by DR.. Doro-
thy s. Russell of London. Ten cases
have been recorded since the malady
first was recognized In England In 1941.
The first symptoms, she said, are
those Of an upper respiratory infection.
probably mistaken for o common cold.
The major symptoms come two days
to two weeks later. There may be
paralysis Of limbs on one side. or even
Of both arms and legs. Death comes
within a week Of the onset Of paralysis.
Autopsy shows tiny hemorrhages
scattered through the white matter Of
the brain. Under a microscope places
can be found where brain nerve f1bers
have been partially stripped Of their
myelin sheaths, which is like exposing
electric wires. The cause is unknown
and efforts to find some virus agent
have failed.
Other Disease Described.
The second generally fatal nerve
malady, metachromic leukoencephalo-
patlay, is described by Drs. Irwin Feigin.
Abner Wolf and Sidney Carter Of New
York. 10 Is characterized chiefly by
degeneration of the white matter in
the central nervous system.
In the nerve tissues Of victims, they
reported. is found substance not nor
mally present which apparently is
complex Of the fats known as hpids.
This substance may result, it seems,
from rapid destruction of the nerve
sheaths due to some other phenomenon.
A new condition described by DR.. Jan
Cammerrneyer Of the National Institutes
Of Health is acute hemorrhagic myelo-
pathy. The one case reported Is that
of a 50-year- -old farmer who developed
the condition in the course Of slow
recovery from pneumonia. Paralysis
of the legs started IL hours after an
injection of novocain to relieve pain.
The paralysis moved rapidly upward
and the man was dead from respiratory
failure in 10 hours.
Autopsy revealed an abcess In the
brain and masses of red blood cells in
the central part of the spinal cord ex-
tending from the point where the
novocain injection had been made.
There are "sirens" in the micro
scopic world of one-celled animals.
Female verticella. or bell animalcules.
-protozoans found in great abundance
in ponds-secrete attracting
hormone which makes males throng
around her, it is reported by DR..
Harold E. Finley. professor Of Zoology
; at Howard University.
Thus the one-celled "siren" has
many to choose from in selecting q
mate.
The "wolf call" of the female bell
animalcule was only one Of the SINH
larities between protozoans and hu-
mans, it was revealed by DR.. Finley's
studies. For example, he found, these
creatures require certain amino acids,
building blocks of the body, which also
are necessary for mans survival.
.s~ Animal Cabling.
This was one of the curiosities Of
natural history reported at a recent
meeting of the American Federation
of Biological Societies.
Another, reported by DR.. w. Frank
Blair of the University of Texas, is that
animals use special Languages" or
dialects, in communicating with each
other, which are as distinct as human
dialects DR.. Blair made tape record
ings of the calls of frogs and toads at
70 localities in Texas, Oklahoma and
Arizona He found that the same
species in different localities had diff
ferent accents about as distinct as the
accents of Georgia and Maine.
These differences may be important
in the economy of nature, the Texas
biologist believes, because Of the part
they play in preventing the interbreed-
ing of closely related strains, which
might have harmful effects on the
population.
Many bird and insect calls also may
differ in the same way, he says.
DR.. Blair has made study Of the
spade-footed toad, distributed through
most of the Southern United States.
which he describes as one-third as
poisonous as a diamond-back rattler.
The toad secretes the poison through
its skin and any one with sensitive
skin may be in danger Of serious
poisoning from handling it.