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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 1955)
J o 0 3 0 3 S3 e O Q 3 :? o Medical Science Attempting To Conquer Asian Diseases Which Would Decide Military Victory In Another War Tokyo (U.R) American Army medical scientists are at tempting to conquer deadly Asiatic diseases which could de cide military victory or defeat In another war. They are devising ways to fight epidemics unknown in the United States which have haunted Asia for centuries. Diseases lurking in China, Formosa, Indochina, the Phil ippines, Okinawa, Japan and Korea are being studied. "These diseases are a serious problem both in peace and war," said Army Medical Corps Col. Joe M. Blumberg, Atlanta, Ga., who is directing 102 medical research projects. Widespread Suffering "They have caused wide spread suffering and economic losses in Asia for centuries. Japanese doctors have learned a great deal about them, and in this command we are working with Japan's top scientists to solve common problems." Scrub typhus, found only in Asia, knocked out in two weeks 90 per cent of the men in one American regimental combat team on New Guinea in World War II. Twenty per cent of the New Guinea typhus victims died. Hemorrhagic fever, a mystery killer about which little is known, attacked 4000 United Nations troops during the Ko rean war. Ten per cent of its vic tims died the first year. Im proved treatment has reduced the death rate to less than four per cent, but the cause still is unknown. Sleeping Sickness Japanese encephalitis, found in most of Asia and sometimes called sleeping sickness, infected 60 per cent of the French For eign Legionnaires defending Dien Bien Phu in the Indochina war. Encephalitis also struck Amer ican troops in the darkest days of the Korean war, when they were fighting from a mere toe hold inside the Pusan perimeter. Medical scientists led by path ologist Blumberg use ingenious methods to unravel the mys teries of diseases carried to man by insects, snails and birds. In Northern Japan, they cap ture migratory birds known to come from Siberia to determine what diseases are prevalent be hind the Iron Curtain. Birds sometimes contract man's diseases. Medford United Press Full Leased Wire Tribune United Press Full Leased Wire Second Section MEDFORD, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1955 Six Pages Hurricane Fliers Find Storm Enemy Which Never Gives Up Effort To Destroy Editor's note: Cmdr. E. L. Foster, 39, of Chattanooga, Tenn. Is the skip per of VW4. the hurricane squadron at the Jacksonville, Fla- Naval Air Station, which ha been dolne most of the reconnaissance of Hurricane C onnie. Foster, after 15'i years in the Navv in which he flew more than 4.000 hours, made his first 10'-? hour flight Into the eye of a hurricane Monday aboard a Navy Neptune pa trol homher with a crew of 10. In the following dispatch he compares the adventure with World War II combat in the South Pacific. Bv CMDR. E. L. FOSTER. USN Written For The United Press Jacksonville. Fla. (U.R) Does this compare with combat? You can say that, brother. The only difference between a combat mission and going into one of these babies is that in a hurricane your enemy never gives up its efforts to destroy you. o All you can see in the front or to the sides is a solid sheet of rain and gray darkness. And if you have time to look down we were flying as low as 300 feet you see that Atlantic Ocean reaching up for you, and it seems about to swallow you up. I don't think anyone with me spent much time being scared. But, I kept thinking of what I'd do in an emergency, like if one of my engines conked out. And I didn't have too much time to think about that. My hands were full, just try ing to hold on to the controls until my co-pilot could spell me. It was as rough and uncomfort able as anything I've ever flown through. When I had a chance to look down, it would look like the wind was picking up that whole damned ocean and trying to send it up to us. Has Veteran Crew , Right here, though, I'd like to emphasize that I've got pretty much of a veteran crew. Those boy-, know what they're doing. My co-pilot, Lt. (J. G.) Rocky Farrek; of Kansas City, Mo., is typical of the young fellows we get from the training command. He is perfectly capable of taking the crew out alone and doing the job right now. He has been in the outfit for about two (years and has between 1,600 and j700 flying hours. I'd like to stress the require ment that every man on one of these crews must operate as a component of a team. Under the circumstances in which we op erate, every man aboard has a specific assignment. Unless he is doing the job,' the flight can not be a success. I'd say the most important men on board were the two navigators, Ens. Jim Morris, and Lt. (J.G.) Dick Wing. If they don't know where we are, our value to the hurricane ad visory service is lost. In the Actual flight, most of all, we just got physically tired fighting the controls, trying to keep the wings level and main tain our air speed at about 165 knots (185 m.p.h.). There is nothing worse than that bumping around. It is a force over which you have no control. All of the elements in a storm like Connie are our mor tal enemies the hurricane force winds, the torrential rains, the terrific heat, everything. And unlike combat flight during the war, these enemies never give up. The only way we can get away from them is to leave the storm. And we have to stay until we are able to give weather central what they ask for. About the only relief we had came when we went into the calm eye of the hurricane and then turned the plane's jets and shot up to 10,000 feet to take pictures. Up there, it was fairly clear and very calm. We could fly around in a 20-mile diameter without feeling a gust, and we were high enough to cool off for a while. Up there we took our pictures. One medical research worker sailed aboard a United States Navy ship from Japan to the Philippines to study the inci dence of diarrhea among crew men after a rest stop at Hong Kong, gateway to Red China. Scrub typhus, a dreaded Southwest Pacific disease dur ing World War II, is one of the major military medical prob lems in Asia, Blumberg said. It attacks nearly every organ in the body. The disease was described in China in the 13th century. Shrines were built in Japan nearly 100 years ago to stop its spread. But only in 1947, after thous ands of American servicemen fell victim to scrub typhus, did doctors come up with an effec tive treatment with anti-biotic "wonder drugs." "Scientists can control but not completely prevent scrub tyhpus. Epidemics swept through U.S. troops training near Japan's famed Mount Fuji in 1948 and 1953, and one maneuver area had to be abandoned. Scrub typhus, a close relative of America's Rocky Mountain spotted fever, stalks its victims in a dozen Asian nations and is believed to be found along the Yangtze river in China. " "Chinese medical journals;" Elumberg said, "contain so much fiction and legend, along with the facts that it is difficult to make much sense out of them." Blumberg's scientists are working closely with Japan's top typhus experts, including Dr. Takeo Tamiya, president of Japan's Association of Medical Science, and Dr. Masami Kita oka, chief of the Department of Virus and Rickettsial Diseases at the National Institute of Health. Blumberg's 406th Medical general laboratory and a smaller detachment studying tropical fevers in Malaya are conducting all the American Army's medi cal research work in Asia. FOR RUGGED ROADS, v HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED A RUGGED TIRE THAT'S GUARAHTtiD SO GET YOURSELF THIS SUPER-DEAL AN ARMSTRONG TIRE. ON EVERY WHEEL! Agreement Reached On Coffee Prices Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (U.R) zil and Colombia. Agreement on me oasic points of an international plan to stab ilize coffee prices and markets has been announced by Bra- Brazil is the world's biggest coffee producer; Columbia ranks second. Lanrine ? Dyke Inc. 'Tour Carpet Shop" Riverside & Main Phone 3-5182 fo Open Every Wednesday Night Nothing Down 36 Months to Pay Now, we can offer you the HOOVER J&s a new Authorized Hoover Dealer we invite you to visit our ,6tore and see the famous Hoover Cleaners at our demonstration . table. Or to call us for a no .obligation home showing. i0TH TYPES-UPRIGHT AND TANK The world-famous Hoover Triple Action Cleaner beats, as it sweeps, as it cleans, brightens .colors, preserves rugs. Home Means More With Carpet on the Floor. Insure It With a NEW HOOVER No other cleaner cleans like the Hoover. i Which type do you prefer? of A Nichol's Worth of . . . Comment On This and That By HARMAN W. NICHOLS United Pe uhw Writer Washington (U.R) What's new? The hot humid days in Wash ington recent ly have pro vided govern ment workers with what could be call ed a "daily double." The G-w o r k e r s dont' get cut loose unless thermome t e r hits a certain Harman Nichols mark; but the catcher is the humidity has to hit another figure. The standard for go home is 95 hot, 55 humid. The odds against that combina tion are almost prohibitive. It runs down the line heat first, humidity second. Like 96-52; 97-49; down to 100-38. A lot of government offices have ther-. mometers; but how does a gov ernment worker tell a humidity when he sees one? Perhaps the telephone opera tors in the Capitol building were the most enthusiastic in their farewells to the adjourned Congress. The more than 70 girls work the year around, but when the talkative senators and represen tatives are out of town they at least have time for a coffee break. During a session, 57,000 calls a day are the average, ac cording to chief operator Miss Nena Thomas. The girls work around the clock whether Con gress is sitting or fishing. Lady Congresswoman Edith Green, the Democrat from Ore gon, has invented a fictitious clown she likes to call Cong. Blpfsk of Lower Slobovia. She quotes the phony law-giver, thus ly: "Best way to handle the Salk vaccine problem is to give each. home a monkey and do-it-your-self kit." I if tin we a to' IFim hmi 1 1 1 I ...... B n r n . pi n n II I I lM i VV II I I I ! I I i I I I I I aJ I m The American Federation of Labor would like us to know that a single worker has been guaranteed an annual wage. This fellow, according to national headuarters here, works for Lo cal 466 as a projectionist for the motion picture operators. 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