Public Health Service Fighting Plague in Rodents Source

Public Health Service Fighting Plague in Rodents Source: The Science News-Letter, Vol. 42, No. 6 (Aug. 8, 1942), p. 86 Published by: Society for Science & the Public Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3919408 Accessed: 29/11/2009 14:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sciserv. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Society for Science & the Public is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Science News-Letter. http://www.jstor.org
86 SCIENCE NEWs LETTER for August 8, 1942 Silk is still needed for certain mili- tary purposes; nylon, rayon and other substitutes have not proven wholly sat- isfactory. We have abundance of mul- berry trees, a seed-stock of silkworms -and thousand of Japanese women in internment camps who would be glad of a chance to undertake their tradi- tional job of unreeling the cocoons to add a little to the family income. These are only samples of the thou- sands of projects awaiting formal or- ganization of the Committee on Tech- nical Development. The work that can be expected of it should not only aid materially in winning the war but in stabilizing the peace. Science New8 Letter, August 8, 1942 PUBLIC HEALTH Public Health Service Fighting Plague in Rodents Concern Felt Over Reports of Large Numbers of Norway Rats in Plains States Although No Germs Found THE NATION's health continues good, reports from state health offi- cers to the U. S. Public Health Service show. Only shadows on the otherwise bright health picture are caused by dysentery, meningitis, anthrax and infantile paraly- sis. The latter disease has caused a number of cases in Kentucky and Arkan- sas in recent weeks, but it is so late in the season that health authorities be- lieve a widespread outbreak unlikely. Texas reports the number of cases of bacillary dysentery is "very high." Of the 356 cases for the nation as a whole during the week ended July 25, 26I were reported from Texas. Virginia that same week reported 351 of the total 386 cases of dysentery of unspecified cause. The low reports from other states may mean that not all cases are being r eported. Reports of meningitis cases for some time have been higher each week than for the corresponding week of any year since 1937. Weekly totals for the nation run about 6o cases. Most of the cases are in the East, but so far the disease has not become epidemic. A total of six cases of anthrax ap- peared in the latest available weekly report. The usual rate is one or two cases a week for the nation. No human cases of plague have been reported so far this year. Anti-plague activities are being pushed strenuously by the federal health service and by California, Washington, Oregon, Mon- tana and Idaho state health depart- ments. Some concern is felt over reports from the field investigators that large numbers of Norway rats have appeared along roadsides and around farm build- ings in the Plains states, Kansas, Ne- braska and the Dakotas. No plague germs have been found on any rodents within 200 miles of these areas, but the presence of the rats which may become a reservoir of the disease is causing some uneasiness. Anti-plague units of the Public Health Service are vigorously searching for and destroying plague-infected ground squirrels and other rodents on and near military reservations and air- fields in the West and Northwest. Science News Letter, August 8, 1942 PUBLIC HEALTIH Dust Analysis Promises New Weapon Against Disease BECAUSE of the development of an inexpensive and comparatively sim- ple technique of analyzing dust particles, occupational diseases resulting from the inhaling of contaminating dusts may be attacked on a new front. Research just completed in the Re- search Institute at the University of Okla- homa has produced the new method, known as the polarographic analysis of industrial dusts, which employs an elec- tro-chemical method of analysis. It was developed through the cooperation of the Oklahoma state health department and the University of Oklahoma Research Institute. The study grew out of the difficulties that the Oklahoma department of health was having in attempting to solve the cause of poisoning that was prevalent among workers in smelters of the north- eastern part of the state. The dust particles available were so small that in many cases they could scarcely be weighed on even the best analytical balances, thus making it nec- essary to develop a new technique. With the polarograph, scientists were able to determine the quantities of lead, cad- mium, and zinc which are most detri- mental to health. In the new technique, the elements present in the dust particles are deter- mined with the spectrograph, and the quantities of lead, zinc, and cadmium are determined with the polarograph. With the use of a polarographic analy- sis, industries now have a way of measur- ing the quantities of toxic constituents in the air in the various parts of the plants, and may remove the possibilities of poisoning by ventilating the various parts of the plants that present a health menace. Robert C. McReynolds, research fellow, who worked under the supervision of Prof. J. Rud Nielsen, has directed work on the project since the first of this year. He was assisted by Robert Ady of the Oklahoma state health department. Science News Letter, August 8, 1942 MEDICINE Age and Sex Help in Diagnosis of Lung Cancer THE PATIENT'S age and sex may I help the doctor determine whether a lung tumor is cancer or not. Dr. Alfred Goldman, of the University of California Medical School, has found. More than 8o0% of lung cancers oc- curred in men over 40 years of age, while 75%0 of the benign tumors, called ade- nomas, occurred in women under 40, Dr. Goldman found in his two-year study. Since X-rays and the bronchoscope do not offer adequate means of diagnosing lung cancer in its early stages, Dr. Gold- man advises exploratory surgical opera- tions in suspected cases of lung cancer, just as such operations are now per- formed in suspected cases of cancer within the abdomen. Science News Letter, August 8, 1942