The Semi Weekly Madison County Democrat

Whooping Cough
Warning Issued

STATE EXPERT, IN PAMPHLET CALLS DISEASE MOST DANGEROUS, URGING CARE IN TREATMENT

Whooping cough kills more children each year in Ohio than any other communicable disease, according to Dr. Finley Van Orsdall, chief of the division of communicable diseases, state department of health, in a pamphlet which has just been released and sent into this county.

Because this disease is the most infectious of all childhood ailments except measles, health officials urge that special care be taken in guarding babies against it.

Resembles Cold

"Whooping cough is most readily transmitted in its early stages when it resembles a common cold, and a positive diagnosis is practically impossible. In older children and adults there may be no whoop during the course of the disease. This is always the case in very young infants.

"Until parents have learned how dangerous a cold may be to their children, whooping cough and several other communicable diseases will continue to reap their harvest," Dr. Van Orsdall explains.

Deaths Total 204

According to health department records there were 204 deaths from whooping cough in Ohio during 1930 among children under five years of age.

Deaths from other communicable diseases among children under five during 1930 were: Measles, 127; scarlet fever, 61; diphtheria, 87; epidemic meningitis, 42, and infantile paralysis, 38.