Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 287, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1916 — NEW DISEASE IN WESTERN FRONT [ARTICLE]

NEW DISEASE IN WESTERN FRONT

“Aspiro-Chetose Ictero-Hemorr-hagi(Jiie,” Is What the Doc- - tors Call It. MEN CALL IT “YELLOWNESS” It Is Believed to Be Caused by the Action of Rainwater on Shell Cases —Effective Serum Has Been Found. Paris. —A new and deadly disease which has appeared In the trenches along the western front, particularly in the Somme area, has been defined. It Is caused by soldiers drinking water which collects in shell holes, and in nearly all cases has proved fatal. A serum has been discovered, however, which Is expected to save many men afflicted with this “acute jaundice” or “yellowness,” as it has been erroneously called for some months. In the Russo-Japanese war appeared the first cases of “aspiro-chetose ictero-hemorrhagique,” as the disease is technically termed. The sufferers assumed a yellowish, Jaundice appearance, and usually within three to five days were dead. Symptoms were particularly hard to note in the case of Japanese sufferers because of their naturally yellowish cast of skin; when hundreds of Russian troops were stricken with it during the battle of Mukden it was realized that a new disease had been encountered. Almost before the doctors and surgeons had time to get down to work =on this mysterious disease, however, the Japanese had stretched the Russian line to a breaking point, snapped It, and won the battle and the w3r. Cases in Russo-Japanese War. “Yellowness’ did not appear In any degree of frequency in the present war until the Somine offensive was well under way. The Champagne offensive did not last long enough to produce the disease, it lk believed, and the French did not classify the malady under Its proper terms if they encountered it at all at Verdun. But when dozens and scores and then hundreds of British troops came down with It at the Somme the British doctors concentrated on the peculiar disease. They sent guinea pigs inoculated with blood from "patients suffering from the deadly disease to the Pasteur institute here. Drs. Louis Martin and Auguste Pettite took the matter in hand and began elaborate experiments. They received further reports on the disease as it raged on the British front. Fifty sufferers were concentrated In one hospital near Amiens. Doctor Inada of the Japanese School of Medicine, who had worked on the strange malady when it appeared in the Mikado’s ranks before Mukden, aided the British and French doctors in studying its cause and course. « The Symptoms. Men suffering from the disease first complained of severe headaches, then repeated strokes of fever and intense Jaundice, when the skin took on a vivid yellow color. , In many cases there was hemorrhage. An isolated virus was finally ob-

talned from the infected guinea pig and this was used on rabbits and horses. From these experiments the doctors agreed on a solution, the strength of which was Judged proper for a man. Now all suspected cases are given the serum Immediately. It is believed that the action of rainwater on shell cases Hnd other metal fragments usually found In shell holes, as well as the presencfe often of putrifylng flesh, causes the generation of a peculiar form of poison. Then when soldiers, trapped In these shell holes by barrage Are, drink the water they are immediately stricken. “Yellowness” Is said to be the first new disease directly discovered and classified In this war, as, although It made Its first appearance In the Husso-Japanese conflict. It was never definitely classified.