When people get so short of breath that the very effort of breathing is difficult and when breathing is harsh and labored, anyone can tell that something is wrong. Since respiration is necessary to life difficult breathing creates serious anxiety. Usually people breathe eighteen to twenty times a minute, and regularly. The breathing is effortless and without any special sensation. If breathing becomes irregular or if a severe effort has to be made to get enough breath, pain may appear.

Anyone can get short of breath after severe work or exhaustive exercise. Shortness of breath occurs more often in fat people than in thin ones, in old people than in young ones, and in women than in men.

Chiggers are known scientifically as Trombicula irritans. They hook themselves on to the skin. The skin becomes irritated, and an intolerable itching begins. Red blotches appear, and blisters form. The chiggers do not burrow into the skin, but they inject a substance which dissolves and softens the tissue, and this causes the itching.

Infestation with chiggers can be prevented by putting flour of sulphur or sulphur powder into the stockings or underclothing when going into tall grass or weeds. Protection can be had by wearing leggings and by closing off the bottom of the trousers.

If you have been seriously bitten by chiggers, wash the skin thoroughly with soap and water and allow the lather to remain on the skin ten minutes before removing. Then any of the anti-itch preparations can be applied to keep the itching under control until healing has occurred.

Insect repellents such as DDT, freon with pyrethrum, and similar preparations can be used to remove chiggers from infested areas, as well as mosquitoes, moths, and other insects.

Germs are often found in pimples, but most physicians believe that the ordinary germs are secondary and are not the cause of the acne. The pimples come on after adolescence, and there is a tendency to relate their appearance to glandular changes associated with puberty. Constipation, overeating of sugars, oiliness of the skin, and anemias are also believed to be secondarily related to acne.

Perhaps the best advice for a boy or girl with acne is to make sure that his diet and nutrition are of the best. Scrupulous cleanliness is important. The face may be washed with applications of hot water, then the blackheads gently squeezed out, and after that an application may be made of a cream containing sulfur and resorcin which dries and disinfects the lesions. In some instances the use of the sex gland principals seems to have been helpful. Large doses of vitamin A are now frequently prescribed. For control of the pus-forming germs antibiotic ointments are tried and, more recently, particularly ointments with tyrothricin.

For many years infantile paralysis has been the most feared of all the crippling diseases that affect mankind. Today as we look back on Infections and Immunity the year 1955 we stand on a new front where we can predict the ultimate elimination of infantile paralysis as a threat, just as typhoid fever and smallpox have been eliminated. This has resulted from the work of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which began raising funds for research on this disease in 1937. Up to that time the suspicion prevailed that this disease was caused by a virus, but the virus was not isolated. Today the viruses-there are several of them-have been isolated and grown in pure form outside the human body. For this work Enders and his associates received the Nobel Prize. When the virus could be grown outside the human body on monkey kidneys in pure form, the preparation of a vaccine was attempted by Dr. Jonas Salk and early experimentation indicated that the inoculation of a mixture of killed viruses would produce in a child resistance against infection with this disease.

When people consult the doctor they do so because they have had feelings and sensations that are disturbing and uncomfortable. Perhaps they have had reactions in various portions of the body which are quite different from the usual. For instance, symptoms may include pain, weakness, shortness of breath, cough, or itching. One may notice a sudden increase of weight, or loss of weight. The hands and feet may seem to be cold and numb. Indigestion may occur, with dizziness or vomiting or diarrhea. Because of jaundice the skin may develop a yellow appearance. All these are included in the signs and symptoms of disease; they are a warning that an investigation of the cause is needed.

People who are emotionally disturbed are likely to feel pain sooner and more intensely than are people in general. With the reaction to pain may come other changes, brought about through functioning of the sympathetic nervous system. These include rapid beating of the heart, sweating, rise in the blood pressure and disturbances of digestion.

Four rather unusual and rare diseases are now being grouped together by medical investigators as a result of information derived from recent research. Their names, which are little known to the public, are polyarteritis nodosa, diffuse lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, and dermatomyositis.

They resemble each other in that all of them represent disturbances of connective tissue in the body, in contrast to glandular tissue or surface secreting tissue. The connective tissue of the body includes what is elastic and the material between the cells. Sometimes tumors consist almost wholly of connective or fibrous tissue. The walls of blood vessels contain much tissue of this type.

Now the big fact about these conditions is that all of them are benefited at least temporarily by use of ACTH or Cortisone. All of them resemble also the reactions that occur in tissues in response to hypersensitivity or allergy.