Meningitis Up

The spread of meningococcic meningitis (TIME, Nov. 30) continued last week. Worst spots: San Francisco, 37 cases and five deaths since Jan. 1; New York City, 237 cases, 41 deaths--over half as many cases as in the whole of 1942.

As meningitis (symptoms: stiff neck, headache, delirium, partial deafness and blindness, a rash) hits hardest in concentrations of young men, the Army is on the watch. At a California ordnance depot, three soldiers died almost before their trouble could be diagnosed. The doctors were waiting for the next 17 cases with sulfadiazine, saved them all. They made throat cultures of men in the barracks involved, dosed all who harbored the bacteria. Said a medical officer: "If you catch it early, it's a bad cold."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.