Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 274, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1916 — LOCAL INFECTION EXPLAINS ILLS [ARTICLE]

LOCAL INFECTION EXPLAINS ILLS

Baffling Eye Affections, Joint Ailments, and Even Appendicitis Accounted For.

DOCTORS ADMIT LAY WISDOM

High Priests of Medicine NoLonger Regard Patient's Diagnosis as Mere Superstition—Tonsils and Teeth at Bottom of Trouble.

New York. —Recent experiments, Investigations, and experimental treatmentm the domains of medicine flnd surgery have led to a solution of many of the hitherto puzzling problems df medical science. Physicians are beginning to realize that many general constitutional disturbances whieh battled their skill are still due to sniull local foci of infection. When these are removed their putients soon recover, sometimes, indeed, with astonishing rapidity. How recent the realization of the real solution of these medical mysteries is may be judged from the following editorial comment in the New York Medical Journal: “For many years it was thought that we were well acquainted with bacteria and their vagaries, but recently we have discovered that there remains much to be learned. Of the various activities of bacteria the most interesting at present is that of the so-called focal infection. By this is meant a small, more or less quiescent point of disease, which, although it c#Uses mr local disturbance, gives rise to symptoms elsewhere in the body. Most Important Manifestation. “Probably the* most important of these manifestations is the involvement of the various joints of the body. If we pick up our textbooks to read about arthritis, the chances are that

we shall be much discouruged, not only by the unfavorable, prognosis, but also by our inability to determine the cause. “Since the work of Rosenow nnd others, however, we are fast realizing Jhat a small collection of bacteria may be responsible for the joint condition, and we ure also discovering the fact that the only way to accomplish much good is to attack the primary focus. “At present the capable physician is no longer content to give antipyretldcs in expectation of a marvelous cure. If a patient now gives a history of chronic and painful joints, the first thought of his physician should be fochl infection. To determine the presence or absence~of suctr a comllllotlTs not atways an easy task, and outside aid, particularly the Roentgen ray, will have to be called upon. Tonsils and Teeth. “The tonsils may be diseased, or, What is very common, there may be infection at the roots of the teeth. This last is a frequent condition and may be present without local indications. It is also interesting to note that many inflammatory conditions of the eye are directly referable to tlental infections. This has long been recognized by the laity, but the idea was considered to be mere superstition by tlie medical high priests. “After removal of the focal infection the patient’s rapid recovery, in many instances, is little short of marvelous.a!n most cases no further treatment seems to be necessary, thq joints cease to be painful, and the convalescent goes on his way rejoicing. “That bacteria in the foci cause the distant lesion has been proved so many timefc that there can now be no doubt as to the causal relation. The isolated organisms, when injected into experimental animals, show a special affinity for tissues similar to those involved in the original instance. A joint will be attacked, an eye become inyolvedy,even" the~appen< lix will succumb, according to the affinity shown in the first case. “The more thoroughly the matter Is investigated, the clearer it becomes that focal infection seeins to explain satisfactorily certain of the hitherto unsolved itroblems of medicine.”