| Show New Disease With Severe Effects and arid Very Long Name New York A A new disease which may have affected as many as one out of every five adults in the country without their knowing what they had came in for lor discussion at the meeting Of the American Public Pub Pub- lic lie Health association here The disease has the Jaw-breaking Jaw name It it is caused by a virus In about half the cases it causes fever and symptoms similar to Influenza In the other half halt it affects the mem memo branes that cover the brain and causes more severe symptoms such as bad headaches stilt stiff neck nausea and vomiting and even slight tern tem paralysis So far no death has been reported in a proved case of this disease It is difficult or impossible to dis this new disease by clin chin ical means alone from another brain inflammation acute aseptic meningitis Drs Du R n. D. D Baird and Thomas M. M Rivers of the hospital of the Rockefeller Institute for tor Med Mcd- ical Research pointed out Its Virus Irus Is Isolated The disease was discovered and its virus isolated by Drs Charles Charle Armstrong and R. R D. D Lillie of the United States National Institute of Health They found the virus while studying viruses from St. St Louis en encephalitis encephalitis epidemic patients in 1934 1034 Two years before this Commande Paul F. F Dickens of the States Navy medical corps had re reported reported reported ported two cases of what looked like Ilk acute aseptic meningitis but he thought might be another disease caused by a virus Since then th tin virus has been recovered from pa patients and from monkeys mice an another Both ano other animals in this country Eng Ens land and France Diagnosis of the disc disease aRe say Dr Armstrong Drs Des Baird and Rivers Rivers- and others who have studied it It depends on examination of ot the spinal fluid and on a mouse protection pro test This consists in mixIng mix mixing mixing ing the patients patient's serum with the virus and injecting it into mice If II the patient had the disease his blood would have antibodies in i it II that neutralize the virus In that tha case the mouse would remain well But Dut if the mouse gets sick it shows that the patients patient's blood had no vi vi- rus antibodies am and therefore that he ho did not have Dr Armstrong and associates associate made this test on blood from near nearly nearly nearly ly 2000 well persons who were having hay hav ing log routine blood tests for other reasons They found that among the adults almost 20 per cent had neu neutralizing antibodies In their blood although none of them recalled being being be being ing sick with symptoms of ot any brain or nerve disease The reason it has been missed In these patient is probably because when it does docs not affect the brain it behaves sc St much like influenza that it would be diagnosed as such |
