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Show WB PNEUMONIA ATTACKS PEOPLE OF ALL AGES The sudden chill, followed by fever, fe-ver, rapid and painful breathing, a distressing cough with the raising r "r of bloody sputum, and blueness of the lips, that mark the onset of a pneumonia, pneumo-nia, strike terror to the hearts of all. In one or another of its types, it attacks all ages. Until very recently, re-cently, one-fourth to r . u o one-third of those Dr. Nathan S. , . . .. . . , Dav,s III From ig21 tQ ,23 ,ts annual death rate among males was 81.9; among females, 63.9 per 100,000. Beginning about five years ago, the death rate from pneumonia has fallen rapidly. As a result of the use of improved sera and of the development de-velopment of rather specific chemical chemi-cal therapy for its treatment, its annual an-nual death rate had for 1938 to 1940 fallen to 38.8 per 100,000 for males and to 23.9 for females. The number of cases of pneumonia pneumo-nia has, however, not been reduced DEATH RATE PER 100,000 INFLUENZA and PNEUMONIA I I f g s s' 'tf$f. wfwfPI 57s zl. -,::. I i , :,.-z.L!it. -J iso 'LSl'uJ- l4i ,i i i r-r m appreciably, yet the sting has been, removed as the death rate has been more than cut in half. Some progress seems to have beea made in the prevention of pneumonia pneumo-nia by the use of a vaccine but for the conquest of the pneumonias, we still depend on improvements in the methods of treatment. Developments have been so rapid in this field during the last few years that it is not possible to state definitely defi-nitely what the most effective method meth-od of treatment is. A few doctors depend chiefly on the various types of specific sera. Others use both the sera and the sulpha drugs. Oxygen therapy which was largely large-ly 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 pneumonias seem to be equally effective in all age groups. The sulpha remedies are, however, sufficiently toxic to make them unsafe for indiscriminate indiscrimi-nate use, are classed as dangerous drugs and can be sold on prescription prescrip-tion only. The sera must of course be given only under the supervision of a doctor. As pneumonias are commonly complications of influenza, colds, or acute bronchitis or follow such upper respiratory infections, anyone who catches one of these relatively minor mi-nor respiratory tract infections must watch his step. If he remains at home and takes care of himself and so avoids exposure to pneumococci 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 complicating pneumonia. This is especially true if there has been some fever during the course of the upper respiratory tract infection. One should never go out after a cold until the temperature has been normal nor-mal for from 24 to 48 hours. The maintenance of good health by avoiding undue fatigue, by eating eat-ing foods containing adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals and proteins and only enough calories to keep the weight within normal limits, makes one less likely to acquire ac-quire the disease. So while the rapid advances in our knowledge of methods for its successful treatment have greatly reduced the death rate from pneumonia, pneu-monia, we must still depend on general gen-eral principles for its prevention. The groundwork of all happiness happi-ness is health. Leigh Hunt in the Death of Little Children. QUESTION BOX Send questions to Dr. Nathan S. Davis in. Winnetka. 111. (Enclose a sell-addresaed. stamped envelope.) Q. Can you suggest a home treatment treat-ment for corns, callouses and ingrown in-grown toenails? T. O. S. Wear shoes and stockings that fit and are large enough, and corns, callouses and Ingrown toenails will disappear. Q. What causes regurgitation after aft-er meals? H. S. O. A. Too rapid eating, overeating, some of the diseases of the diges-tiva diges-tiva tract. |
