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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 1958)
Drugs Not Whole Answer To Decline in Tuberculosis Br DELOS SMITH UPI Science Editor New York-OD-Tuberculosis scientists would be much hap pier people if only they could explain (to their own and one another's s a t i sfaction) why tubercle bacilli seem to be less lethal than they used 3 to be. In 1900 these fcyf j chemi cally Deioi smith clever bacteria killed half the Americans in whom they succeeded in es tablishing colonies, and made a mark on just about all of them before their lives were finished. Now they kill about one in five, and two-thirds to three-fourths of us live out our spance without ever be ing touched. The wonder-working drugs are not the whole answer. The oldest drug has been in use only 11 years and the best drug, only six. They don't ex plain what has happened. Nor is it wholly explained by the vast anti-tuberculosis drive of the past 50 years. A number of epidemiologists point out that man was get ting an upperhand on the bacillus before there was any anti - tuberculosis movement anywhere, even before anyone knew the bacillus existed. Peak Year 1850 The change began some where around 1850 which was the evident peak year of a world-wide epidemic of some 50 years duration, and the death rate of American and European cities was 400 or more per hundred thousand population. By 1904 when the anti - tuberculosis movement got fully underway in the united btates with the org anization of the National Tu berculosis Association, it was down to a little under 200 per hundred thousand. It had been "more than halved in 50 years while nothing worth while was being done. Since 1904 the association and its some 3,000 affiliated societies have been zealously arousing Americans to the TB danger. Public opinion was mobilized and educated. Great health campaigns were waged. Special departments were formed at all levels of gox ernment federal, state, coun ty, municipal to fight tuber culosis. Sanitoriums and clin ics were set up in the thous ands. Unquestionably all this has speeded the decline of the disease while improving pub lic health in general immeas urably. Unknown Force At Work Nevertheless a second and unknown force has been at work, too. Scientists wish they knew what it was. Is the pow er of the bacillus to sicken people and then kill them less than it used to be? Definitely not. The strains isolated from today's patients will kill lab oratory animals as surely as those isolated by Robert Koch, who discovered the' bacillus in 1882. So it must be assumed de fensive human body chemis try has been improving its col lective ability to deal with the bacillus. But how? There are several possibilities. One is that most if not all the Amer icans whose defensive chem istry was not up to the task, have been killed off by the bacillus, along with decend ants who inherited their sus ceptibility. The Americans with the best defensive chem istry for the bacillus survived and bred the present genera tions which ' inherited their good defenses. Resist Bacilli Onslaught Or, perhaps, defensive hu man body chemistry "adapt ed " to and thus became in creasingly resistant to the on slaughts of bacilli. That sort of thin ghappens in bacterial chemistry routinely; disease- causing micro - organisms "learn" how' to deal safely with drugs which once killed them. It could happen in hu- Tps Embarrassing At White House Washington-OOT-The White House today described as "very embarrasing" the 25 cent tips some guests left at the White House cloak room last week after a formal state dinner and musicale given by President and Mrs. Eisen hower. "Anyone who comes regu larly knows that it just isn't done," said a White House so cial aide. "The White House is not the same as a hotel or restaurant." Richard Hakluyt, the ge ographer, who died in 1616, was the Archdeacon of West minister, England. " ' man chemistry. There is reason to believe that in centuries past, tuber culosis peaked and then de clined on its own, only to peak again. If that is so, and the evidence is more sugges tive than reliable, who is to say it can't happen again? At any rate, tuberculosis scientists can't feel complete ly confident that a total vic tory is in sight. There are just too many unknowns. They'll have the confidence only when they thoroughly understand defensive body chemistry against the bacilli and are able to manipulate that chemistry at will. HILTS Funeral Services Held Portland Schoo' On Unfair List Of Labor Council Portland -(LTD Central Ca tholic high school here Mon day night was placed on the "unfair list" by the Multno mah County Labor Council. The council's action follow ed a deadlock between school authorities and Building Ser vice Employees Local 49, which has been trying to get a labor contract for four jan itors at the school. Glenn R. Blake, president of the council and also secretary-treasurer of the Build ing Service Local, said a ver bal agreement was reached on a contract with the Rev. Willis L. Whalen, principal of the parochial school. Blake said Father Whalen later changed his mind and refus ed to sign, saying the jani tors didn't want to join the union. Father Whalen, in formed of Blake's statement, said he had no comment. To Distribute Circulars Blake said circulars would be passed out to the school's 965 students so that they might take them home and inform their parents of the Union's side of the dispute. He added that placement of the school on the unfair list meant that "parents who are members or supporters of or ganized labor should with draw their children from the school." Blake said "nearly all of the students are from work ing families." By MRS. M. F. CAVIN Hilts-Funeral services for Anna Marie Leazer of Areata were held Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in Girdner's Funeral chapel in Yreka. Interment was in the Evergreen ceme tery. Mrs. Leazer, 44, died Dec. 4 in the University of Cali fornia hospital in San Fran cisco. She had undergone a complicated heart operation two days before her death and was seemingly recover ing when she died unex pectedly. She was born March 27, 1914, in Hornbrook and was the daughter of Manuel and Minnie Vieira. Later the fam ily moved to Hilts where she attended the local school. She is survived by her hus band, Harold (Pete) Leazer; a daughter, Elaine; two sons, Harold and Harrison Leazer, all of Areata, her mother, Mrs. Minnie Vieira of Hilts; four brothers, Joseph, George and Ray, all of Hilts and Andy McCloud and several nieces and nephews. Mr. and Mrs. Ed Staley and Sherrie, Shirley and Douglas visited Sunday in Dunsmuir with Staley's parents. Callers on Sunday at the M. F. Cavin home were Mrs. Fred Bloomingcamp of Horn brook, Mrs. Marge, Snyder and children, Vic and Karen of Medford and Steven and Paul Wyatt of Central Point. Al Perry left Monday eve ning for Ft. Bragg to he with his son who underwent ma jor surgery Tuesday morning. He returned home Thursday night. Mrs. Doug Hughes returned to her home Friday from the Ashland General hospital where she had been a patient for several days. Mrs. Worth Sanford cared for the children during her illness. Mr. and Mrs. Johnny De Avilla and son, Stevie, visit ed Saturday at the Don Wilcox home in Ashland. The sixth birthday of Ste ven De Avilla, son of Mr. and Mrs. Johnny De Avilla was celebrated with a party Dec. 5. Games were played and birthday cake, ice cream and punch were served to Johnny, Linnie Mae, and Lynn Marin, Teddv and Mirkv C.prims Jackie Sanford, Elaine Zanot- ta, Becky, Cathy and Danny Hamilton, Daren Whittaker and Douglas Staley. Party favors and balloons were giv en to those present. Randy Rainwater, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. Rainwater, was honored with a party Fri day, Dec. 12, celebrating his seventh birthday. Games were played and refreshments of cake, .ice cream and punch were served to Johnny and Linnie Marin, Douglas Staley, Daren Whittaker, Jackie San ford, Steven De Avilla and Tommy Shuck. Gloria Chase sent a gift but was unable to attend. The Hilts Ladies Commu nity club held a' Christmas party at the club rooms in the Community center build ing Thursday, Dec. 10. Luncheon was served at 1:30. Secret pals were revealed and gifts exchanged. Names were drawn for secret pals for the coming year. Canasta and pinochle were played. Present were Mrs. Ozzie Bernheisel, Mrs. Art Hartman, Mrs. Art Blanchard, Mrs. H. G. Thompson, Mrs. Orval Riie, Mrs. Joe Caston, Mrs. M. G. King, Mrs. Al Simmen, Mrs. Ernest Spannaus, Mrs. Cal Sharp, Mrs. Fred Haynes, Mrs. Gilbert Luper, Mrs. Frank Graves, Mrs. Frank Ayris, Mrs. Gwen Evans, Mrs. Walt Laustalot and Mrs. Frank Ohlund and Mrs. Ethel White of Hornbrook. Mr. and Mrs. Don Wilcox and family of Ashland visited friends here Friday evening. High Flights Halted As Cure for Cough Frankfurt, Germany -(UPD-The U. S. Army has stopped flying German children to high altitudes in attempts to cure whooping cough. An Army medical spokes man said Monday "there is no scientific basis for the be lief that flying children up to altitudes of 15,000 to 20, 000 feet will permanently cure them of whooping cough." Such flights may prolong the illness, the spokesman said. Agriculture was introduced into Manitoba in 1812 by the Selkirk settlers. Is That So? By OLGA BURNS Mosquitoes appear only in warm weather - fortunately but what happens to them in the winter? Do they die? Not at all. They are still very much around, the reason being that the mosquito is so tough an insect it doesn't bother him at all to be frozen stiff in a cake of ice. In fact, even if there is an unseason able thaw, a new cold wave won't do him any harm. He merely freezes again to wait securely lor the return of spring. Whether in egg form or an adult, it makes no difference. He is close to perfection when it comes to suspended anima tion. Because of his amazing hardihood he lves equally well in the tropics or the Arctic. In fact, except for the deserts, the oceans and high mountain tops, no part of the world is free of him. Though anyone while listen ing to the high whine of a hunting mosquito in the dark is convinced their favorite diet is human blood, it really isn't. Blood, apparently, is more in the nature of a des sert. Their principal food con sists of the juices of vegeta tion such as flowers, fruit, leaves, etc. On the whole, that is about all the male mos quito gets. He is a weakling in comparison to the female, so much so that he finds it difficult to penetrate the hide of an animal. Makes Little Difference She, however, is so strong that it seemingly makes little difference what the nature of the blood source is. Just about any kind of animal - birds, frogs, even turtles - will do. True, for a while it was thought mosquito preferences were for humans, but exten sive studies indicate other wise. Scientifically conducted investigations in which mos quito traps were baited with both human beings and pigs revealed a surprising degree of impartiality on the mos quito's part. However, since the studies did not apparently take into account the. presum ably greater effort required to penetrate a pig's skin, it is barely possible that mos quitoes do prefer hogs. Incidentally, it is highly likely that the whining song a mosquito makes is made by the female. The hearing ap paratus of the male is evident ly more highly developed than that of his counterpart. It consists of largely of hairs on his antennae. They are sensitive to sound waves and the male is known to turn his antennae in the direction of the sound's source. The song is made partly by a buz zing of the wings, but some notes are believed to be pro duced through the intense vibration of parts of the in sect's breathing system. (Released by McClure News paper Syndicate) Sorry, I simply cannot an swer your many friendly let ters individually, but I will be glad to answer letters of general interest through the column. .Please address your letters to: Is That So! co Medford Mail Tribune, Box 1069, San Francisco, Calif. ACQUIRE TV RIGHTS London (UPD - The British Broadcasting Corporation has secured exclusive British TV rights on Harry Belafonte, American Negro singer of folk ballads, for the next five years. Only about 20 of Bermuda's 300 islands are inhabited- S & H Green Stamps Too SAWDUST To Burn MEDFORD FUEL CO. Tel. SP 2-2111 Court & McAndrews MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Oregon, Tuesday, December 16, 1958 ' 3 Efforts To End Gas War Lagging Portland-(UPD-Many service stations in the Portland area continued today to sell regu lar gasoline at 23.9 cents per gallon despite efforts to end the prolonged price war. Members of the Oregon Gas oline Dealers association said after a meeting Moday night that no immediate overall re turn to the former price level of about 33.9 cents was in sight. Some stations returned to the higher level last week. JUDGE SHOWS MERCY San Fernando, Calif. - (CPD -Roland Anthony Collins plead ed guilty to his 26th charge of drunkenness, but had one favor to ask Municipal Judge Julian Beck. "Don't send me to the county jail," he plead ed. "I can't stand the smog there." Beck sentenced Col lins, 48, to the "smog-free" city jail for 30 days. SMASH REBEL RING Saint Etienne, France-nPD-An Algerian rebel ring in the industrial region around Saint Etienne has been smashed, po lice announced. For Him... AMERICANS TOURISTER FOR A GIFT... hfV rarrv with nrirfpl "tr'iftl TRl-TA ' . i 53 SMARTER! The beautifully contoured design make it the most fashionable luggage obtainable anywhere today. LIGHTER: The lightest luggage you've ever carried. 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