THREAT TO THE WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 November 1920, Page 3

THREAT TO THE WORLD.

DISEASES OP MID-EUROPE. ( , ALARM IK EXGLAND. .Medical authorities iu England are lulling tiu! public emphatically that if humanity does nut have a successful light against the disease of Mid-Europe, the disease of Mid-Europe will have a light against humanity throughout the world. Mid-Europe has more than enough disease of the body, disea -es of the mind, diseases of the soul, to spread KUll'ering anu death through the world in such epidemics as many countries, including Xew Zealand, suffered two years ago. Apart altogether from humanitarian sentiment, the instinct. of self-preservation obliges the world as a whole to help in checking the devastating diseases of Mid-Europe. There typhus, tuberculosis, and other pestilences! are th" busy servants of Death. Colonel Gilchrist, who is in charge of a detachment of American sanitary troops working in Poland, reported a few months ago:—'■ From tin* present indications, Poland is going to experience the worst typhus fever epideni» in the history of the world, which, unless blocked at. once, will prove a danger that will threaten the whole of Europe. The epidemic which for the fourth year in succession has been raging throughout Poland lias increased in intensity each year owing primarily to the large influx of refugees and prisoners of war from Russia. UJs a known fact that commanders of the Bolshevik armies are ridding themselves of typhus cases by sending them in armored cars to the Polish border. There they are unloaded and allowed to drift for themselves into Polish territory. "Poland i 9 a rampart against the dangers of this disease, which threatens the'world, if Europe is allowed to be thoroughly saturated, and may result in one of the world's greatest catastrophes. "Out of the 12 medical officers in Tarnopol Hospital, If) have given up their lives f<\r the cause. The mortality this year is estimated at from 4"i to lib per cent. No one knows how many cases of typhus there are in Poland. The disease is everywhere. Tt is believed by those well informed that the mortality from this disease will amount to hundreds and thousands of cases.'' Reports from the disease-smitten districts of Poland, Ukraine, Czecho-Slova-kia, Jugo-Slavia, Serbia, Hungary, and Austria, show a pathetic and alarming shortage of doctors, nurses, and equipment, to fight the deadly epiHemic.Si | Here are typical messages:—Major Lederrey, of the American Army, reports terrible destitution throughout the Ukraine. The country is overrun with vermin There is one doctor to evrrv ■ 20,000 or 30,000 inhabitants, but they have no resources for dealing with their patients. Spotted typhus and recurrent fever have ravaged the country, and many villages have Inst 10 to in per cent of their population. The sufferings of the children have lieen the worst. Children under seven years of age are not to be found. the epidemics, in the absolute lack of means of lighting them, continually spread mojc widely. Captain Burnier, delegate of the international Red Cross Committee, who visited Hungary .recently, reports that at ;Szolnok the municipal hospital is absolutely without medicaments; operations are performed without anaesthetics, and only paper bandages are available. When Lady Muriel Paget visited Czecho-Slovakia, about Ihe "middle of this year, she found no hospital in such a large towns as Tniv.ovka, willi a population of 300,000. Lady Muriel eritablished a hospital of 30 beds (one per 10,00 ft of population). Typhus imd tuberculosis were then so prevalent that they were described as "a terrible scourge."' "Eighty per cent diseased.' 1 "SO to 8"i per cent diseased," arc the ?ad figures that appear in the reports abont"children. Weakened by famine and disease, they have a pitiless winter upon them now. Ts there a man, woman, or child unwilling to help in giving some Christmas good cheer to those little sufferers.?