Capsules

P: Manhattan's Sloan-Kettering Institute reported another small advance in the battle against cancer: a rare and harmless African nerve virus called Egypt Virus 101, which will attack and eat away cancerous tissue in humans.

Of 26 cancer patients experimentally infected with the new virus, four showed substantial improvement. The one drawback: relief is only temporary. The virus did not kill all the cancer before dying itself, and patients could not be given a second dose 'because they had developed an immunity to it. Said the institute: "[There] is as yet no proof that a curative virus for man can be developed, only hope for such an outcome based upon the experiments."

P: Obesity as people grow older, Nutrition Expert Dr. Josef Brozek told a Manhattan meeting of biologists, is the most devastating and widespread nutritional disorder in the U.S. today. Tests on 103 men showed that the average fellow consists of about 14% fat at the age of 20, eats his way up to 25% fat by the time he reaches 60. Dr. Brozek's advice: lop 7% from the 3,000 calories consumed daily for every decade after the age of 25.

P: After a survey of 207 state-operated mental hospitals, the U.S. Public Health Service estimated that one out of every 330 Americans (about 500,000) was under state treatment for mental illness in 1949. The hospitals were so overcrowded that there were only 100 beds for every 118 patients, one doctor for every 230.

P: "Swimmer's itch," long thought to be caused in salt water by pollution or jellyfish stings, has been traced to the common mud snail. The snail's tiny larvae attack swimmers in calm waters and cause an itchy rash. Best way to outwit them: avoid still waters, keep splashing, take a shower afterwards.

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