Show WJ PNEUMONIA ATTACKS PEOPLE OF ALL AGES the sudden chill followed by fever rapid and painful breathing a at distressing r essing cough with the r raising a of bloody sputum and blueness of the lips lipp that mark the onset of a pneumonia strike terror to the hearts of all in one or a nother another of its types it attacks all ages until vergre very recently one fourth to one third of those dr nathan S who had it died davis vis III from to 23 its ita annual death rate among males was among females per Bei beginning inning about five years ago the death rate from pneumonia baso has fallen rapidly As a result of the use 0 of im improved proved sera and of the development of rather specific chemical therapy for its treatment its annual death rate had for 1938 to 1940 fallen to per for males and to 23 9 for females the num number berof of cases of pneumonia has however not been reduced DEATH RATE PER INFLUENZA and PNEUMONIA 75 00 ISO 1100 75 appreciably yet the sting has been ean removed as the death rate has been more than cut in half some progress seems to have been made in the prevention of pneumonia by the use of a vaccine but for the conquest of the we still depend on improvements in the methods of treatment cevelo developments ments have been so rapid in this field during the last few years that it is not possible ito to state definitely what the most effective method of treatment is A few doctors depend chiefly on the various types typos of specific fic sera others use thi the sera and the sulpha drugs oxygen therapy which was largely responsible for the improvement in the mortality statistics prior to 1935 is also of great value fortunately the new preparations for the treatment of the i manlas seem to be equally effective in all age groups the sulpha remedies are however sufficiently toxic to make thim them unsafe for indiscriminate use are are classed as dangerous drugs and can be sold on prescription only the sera must of course be given only under the supervision of a doctor As are commonly complications of influenza colds or acute bronchitis or follow such upper respiratory infections anyone who catches one of these relatively minor respiratory tract infections must watch his step if he remains remain it at home and takes care of himself and so avoids exposure to while his resistance is down he will be less apt to get pneumonia be careful of colds those who try to work to go to school and to keep all social and business appointments when they have colds or bronchitis who fight the infection instead of giving in to it are much more apt to develop a 8 complicating pneumonia this is especially true if there has been some fever during the course couise of the upper respiratory tract infection one should never go out after a cold until the temperature has been normal tor for from 24 to 48 hours the maintenance of good health by av avoiding undue fatigue I 1 b by eating foods containing adequate amounts of vitamins minerals and proteins and only enough cal calorie to keep the weight within normal limits makes one less likely to acquire the disease so while the rapid advances in our knowledge of methods for its successful treatment have greatly reduced the death rate from pneumonia we must still depend on general principles for its p prevention reven tion |