Foreign Letters

PARIS
(From Our Regulur Correspondent)

pruriginous, eruptive reaction, resembling herpes gestationis, was noted, (2) several patients experienced general fatigue, sleepiness and sometimes an increase of appetite, which may be attributed to the hypoglycemia sometimes found in tissular therapy, and (3) 1 woman experienced a temporary cessation of
her menses. the method.

Sept. 30, 1949.

International Antituberculosis Union
A meeting of the Council of the International Antituberculosis Union was held at the secretariat of the union, 66 Boulevard Saint-Michel, July 11-13, 1949. Delegates of 24 nations were present; Dr. J. B. MacDougall represented the World Health Organization. The administrative sessions were devoted chiefly to the revision of the union's constitution ; a modified text of the by-laws will be submitted to the General Assembly meeting in 1950 in preparation for the eleventh conference of the union, which will be held in Copenhagen Sept. 5-10, 1950. The secretary general, Prof. Etienne Bernard, announced the admission of Haiti, Iran and Turkey, bringing to 45 the number of countries belonging to the union. Invitations to summon a coming international conference in their respective countries were addressed to the union by the representatives of the United States, Brazil and India. The following subjects were selected for the agenda of the conference : tubercle bacilli and chemotherapeutic agents, their sensitivity, resistance and dependence (first report by Dr. Esmond Long) ; indications for collapse therapy and antibiotics in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis (opening report by Messrs. E. Rist and Etienne Bernard, secretary general of the International Antituberculosis Union), and emergency order of the measures to be adopted in countries "where the tuberculosis campaign has just started" (opening report by M. Arlindo de Assis. At the first scientific session of the Council Dr. Esmond Long read a paper on "Resistance of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis to Streptomycin." The second scientific session was devoted to the discussion of surgical exresis in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Reports were read by Prof. Price Thomas, London, and by professors Santy and Brard, Lyons. Prof. Price Thomas summarized his conclusions : "Resection of the lung for pulmonary tuberculosis offers the best prospect of cure in the type of case which will not react favorably to any of the standard methods of relaxation therapy. Patients with disease which can satisfactorily be treated by thoracoplasty should continue to be so treated until it is established that resection offers a better prospect at a smaller risk. The matter of deformity should not enter too seriously into the discussion." Messrs. de Winter, Odelberg, Maurer and Lebrigant took part in the ensuing discussion. Treatment of Psoriasis with Placental Extracts Prof. J. Gate, Drs. R. Vachon, R. Moindrot and J. Cotte

The results may be better with

improvement of

in Ophthalmology of the Lyons Society of OphthalBelz, meeting mology, reported a case of bilateral neuritis, of two years' duration, with vision of 1/20, enormous scotomas, decoloration of the temporal half-papillae and disorders of retinal adaptation. Alcoholism and tabacosis are responsible for this neuritis. The patient had failed to respond to all other types of treatment. After stopping the use of tobacco and alcohol, Belz performed a subcutaneous implantation of a fragment of placenta and, fourteen days later, noted an appreciable result : improved vision of the right eye to 8/10 and of the left eye to 7/10. A second implantation of placenta was performed three weeks later, resulting in 8/10 vision in both eyes. After a series of injections of placental extracts and the administration of vitamin B, there was greater improvement and the patient was able to resume his work as accountant. Mrs. Matavulj recently reported to the Paris Society of Ophthalmology a case of uveal tuberculosis rapidly improved, in three days, after a subcutaneous implantation of placenta. Paufique and Hugonnier reported to the Lyons Society of Ophthalmology a case of detachment of the retina; operation had been unsuccessful, but there had been spectacular improvement (rapid resetting) after a subcutaneous placental implantation followed by slight diathermocoagulation. Although all previous therapies, including sympathicolytic measures, had failed, Mayer and Kanitakis succeeded in improving arteritis of the inferior limbs with reappearance of the oscillations (noted with the Pachn sphygmograph) and in curing obstinate painful ulcrations by means of two successive placental grafts (reported to the French Society of Dermatology and Syphilography on July 7, 1949). Placental
at
a

Implantations

recent

1948 Cancer Mortality Rate Data recently published by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies give the following figures on deaths due to cancer for the year 1948: There were 72,965 deaths, 35,480 male and 37,485 female. Of 100 deaths from a known cause, 16 per cent were attributable to cancer. In 1946, 13.3 per cent of all deaths were due to cancer, and in 1947, 13.8 per cent.

ITALY
(From Our Regular Correspondent)

Florence, Sept. 30,

In Defense of Public Health

1949.

(Lyons) tried treating psoriasis with aqueous extracts of placenta, gathered immediately after delivery and stored in a refrigerator for about eight days. The treatment consists of daily intramuscular injections given in thirty to. forty day At a meeting of the French Society of Dermatology courses. and Syphilography, they reported their first results in 28 cases; in 3 cases all signs were eliminated without any other external treatment. In one of these 3 cases the disease had been resistant to all classic treatment for eight years. Of the 2 remaining patients, who were experiencing their first outbreak, one had not responded to arsenical therapy. The patients had been free from psoriasis four to six months. Considerable improvement had been noted in 3 cases of long-standing disease (80 to 90 per cent). Eleven patients showed some improvement. The treatment is well tolerated except that (1) in 1 case a transient

Prof. Giuseppe Alberti (senator) delivered

an

in the Senate in defense of public health; he called attention to the importance of the office of the High Commissioner for Hygiene and Public Health and particularly of the High Institute of Health. The office of public health is well administered if general benefit results in the field of social medicine. According to the speaker, differentiation between general and occupational diseases would result in oversimplification of public" health administration. He did not believe that the office of the High Commissioner could be abolished but felt that a Ministry of Public Health should be established to help care for all the needs in the social health field, prophylactic, supportive and therapeutic. In a radical reorganization of public health departments, the problems dealing with the protection of mothers and infants should be given particular consideration. With

important speech

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