During the first four months i 1961, infectious hepatitis reache near epidemic proportions in Loi teiana.
According to statistics compile by the state board of health, 16 persons developed the disease hi tween January 1 and April 2' Two died. During the same perio in 1960, 30 persons had hepatitis
Efc. John Buddingh, head of th microbiology department at Loi isiana State university medic? school, believes the increase Ironically enough, is due to in proved sanitary conditions.
"Time was when practicall tvery youngster caught hepatiti when he was growing up," h explained, *'Often it was so mil no one loiew he had it But, re gardless of mildness, the chil acquired an immunity to the dis ease which lasted throughout hi entire adult life.'*
NATIONWIDE INCEEASE
Dr. Buddingh said that as sari tary conditions improved, fewe and fewer youngsters contract© infectious hepatitis.
"As you know, the disease 1 usually spread hy means of ex cretions from the gastro-intestina tract or from polluted water o contaminated food or cookini utensils," he added. "We are pa> Ing in increased hepatitis toda; for the almost complete disappeai enee of typhoid fever, cholera an< dysentary. The increased numbe bi adult cases are partially re sponsible, I believe, for the shari increase in the incidence of tin disease,"
Dr. Buddingh said the increasi te not limited to Louisiana, tha it's part of a nationwide picture
"At the end of the first sevei weeks of 1961, hepatitis cases from coast to coast totalled 11, 455," he added.
Asked about the 32 cases h Pascagoula, Miss,, linked with thi eating of raw oysters, originating from a temporarily pollute* oyster bed, the physician admit ted oysters have been found to carry the hepatitis virus. COMMON FORM
"The contaminated oysters, how tver, were just an incident in thi general increase of the disease,' lie emphasized. "Actually th< hepatitis virus can be picked U] from any number of differen lources."
Dr9 Buddingh said the mos common form of hepatitis and th< type which has been causing thi most trouble lately is viral or in factious hepatitis.
"We used to call it infectious jaundice,'* he explained, "Foi years it was regarded as a highly contagious disease. But ii wasn't until 1938 that an English scientist came up with good evidence that tliis form of hepatitis was caused by a specific virus.'
Dr. Buddingh said proof that i vims is the culprit was furnishec several years ago by a group oj
human volunteers from Philadelphia.
"They had to have human volunteers since there are no known laboratory animals in which we can produce the disease," he added.
HARD TO CONTROL The microbioiogist said contracting hepatitis more or less depends on human contacts. He said the hepatitis virus is a strong, stubborn virus; that it is | resistant to heat and remains in-ifective a long time.
"People with infectious hepatitis may excrete the virus for weeks or months," he added. "That is why public health authorities find the disease so hard to control."
Dr. Buddingh said the liver is the chief organ involved,
"Many of the cells of the liver are injured and there is a great deal of inflammation in the liver itself," he explained. "This inflammation can bring about an obstruction of the bile ducts. The bile backs up into the blood and the patient becomes jaundiced."
The scientist said there is no specific treatment against the virus; that "the best thing to do is to follow your doctor's advice." "This usually consists of bed rest and a high protein diet," he added. "Fats should be avoided as much as possible."
The physician said symptoms of viral or infectious -hepatitis include fever, gastro - intestinal upsets, nausea, vomiting and gen-
IDEAL ANSWER
"The people who have it feel miserable," he added. "Many but not all of them become jaundiced. They catch it from other people who either have the disease are or carriers. Gamma globulin is of much value in preventing the disease in contacts."
Dr. Buddingh said the ideal answer, of course, would be a hepatitis vaccine,
"Scientists are trying to discover if it is possible to grow the virus in large enough quantities to create such a vaccine," he added, "This would follow much the same pattern as that used in developing the polio vaccine."
Dr. Buddingh said that during
recent years attempts have been made to grow hepatitis virus in artificially-maintained cells,
"So far these experiments have proved very promising," he added, "We can learn a lot about this virus by growing various types of living cells, human and otherwise, in test tubes, But there are still many problems to be solved."
Dr, Buddingh said one of the most famous forms of hepatitis is yellow fever.
"Yellow fever is a form of hep-ititis in which the virus is mos-luito-borne," he explained. "But since We have learned how to control the mosquito, we don't lear too much about yellow fever my more in this part of the vorld."
UNKNOWN CASES
Dr. Buddingh said the old=fash-oned name for infectious hepati-is was infectious jaundice. He :aid people didn't seem to get lalf as jittery when you told them hey had jaundice as when you old them they had hepatitis.
"As far as serum hepatitis is ;oncerned,M he added. "The an-
swer lies in proper collection and storage of blood used in blood transfusions as well as in proper sterilization of needles used in hypodermic injections."
Dr. John M. Bruce, chief of the section of epidemiology, state board of health, said hepatitis is a disease which is poorly reported.
"There are probably many more cases than we. know about officially," he added. "I think it follows the polio pattern very closely. And it has been said that for every case of reported polio, you can suspect 1000 polio infections which do not go into paralysis. I think the same thing can be said of infectious hepatitis."
Dr. Bruce admitted that hepatitis "is definitely on the upswing."
"We are much concerned about it," he added, "Yet there is so little that can be done, There's no known vaccine. There's no medication which will act to shorten the course of the disease. So you can see what we're up against."
PHOTO: CHART SHOWS UPSWING OF HEPATITIS : John Buddingh indicates recent increase in disease.
