The education and research director for the American College of Chest Physicians said the staphlococci pneumonia, which has been threatening the life of Elizabeth Taylor, is becoming increasingly prevalent.
"It's a very severe type of pneumonia, with a high death rate," explained Dr. Herman J. Moersch, of Rochester, Minn. "And it's a type of pneumonia which doesn't respond readily to antibiotics."
Dr. Moersch said the staphlococci germ has become resistant to ordinary antibiotics.
'That's why doctors don't like to prescribe antibiotics too often," added the physician, a featured speaker at the annual con-, Venticn of the New Orleans Graduate Medical Assembly.
NEW ANTIBIOTIC
Dr. Moersch said, "Fortunately, we have a new antibiotic, which seems to be working out much better."
"But this pneumonia can really foe a killer," he added. "Why I know of one patient who entered the hospital claiming he had a bad cold. About 48 hours later he was dead from 'staph' pneumonia. This shows how toxic it can be."
Dr. Moersch said staphlococci infection seems to be more prevalent in hospitals these days.
"Unfortunately," he added, "there are 'staph' carriers, persons who carry this organism around in their throats, though they may never get ill from it. Because of this many hospitals take weekly throat swabs of ev-everyone working in the operating room."
Di\ Moersch said Elizabeth Taylor "is apparently in very good hands."
HARD ON PATIENT
"Lord Evans is an excellent physician," he added. "And London has many distinguished internists and lung specialists. I'm sure Lord Evans has gotten in touch with some of them."
The Rochester physician said, "Miss Taylor will probably have a long period of convalescence."
"This 'staph' germ is hard on any patient," added the physician, who is emeritus chairman of two sections of medicine at Mayo Clinic. "It's certainly dangerous in elderly patients. And in children it can be frightening since it produces cavities in the lungs."
"We've discovered, however, that these cavities tend to heal themselves, "the physician added.
As the convention neared a close Thursday, Dr. Maurice .E. St. Martin, outgoing president, turned over the gavel to Dr. Bar-igttjCennedy, incoming president. And convention registration passed the 2000 mark.
PURE WATER
One of the final convention speakers said an injection of pure water can relieve pain in 30 to,40 per cent of the patients experiencing discomfort after surgery.
Dr. Arthur S. Keats, of Houston, Tex., said in such cases the water is used as a placebo. Sometimes, he added, the placebo may be a sugar pill.
"These placebos relieve pain following surgery because the patient believes he has received medication which will help him," added the physician, who is chief of anesthesiology at Baylor University Medical school.
Dr. Keats said the placebos are equally effective in relieving the pain of angina pectoris, that they are often used to control nausea and vomiting.
The physician then described an experiment, which he and his colleagues are carrying on at Baylor to determine the merit of | various pain-killing drugs.
He said about 1000 patients have been used in the experiment! during the past five years. SAME RELIEF
"In carrying out ■ this experiment," he explained, "we use placebos to determine if a drug is any better than water. If a person obtains the same relief from the placebos as he does from both old and new pain-killers then he's not much use to us in our experiment."
Dr. Keats said "a. person does |
not have to be neurotic or nuts to get pain relief from placebos."
"When a doctor gives a patient an injection of water or a sugar pill and says to that patient, 'This is going to do you a lot of good,' the patient naturally believes it will."
Dr. Keats said his experiments show that aspirin is the best low-potency pain killer and that morphine is still the best high-potency pain-killer. PHOTO: DR. MAURICE E. ST. MARTIN (left), outgoing president of the New Orleans Graduate Medical Assembly, turned over the office to Dr. Barrett Kennedy (right), incoming president, at the close of the annual convention at the Roosevelt hotel. Dr. Walter Lyon Bloom, Atlanta, one of the speakers at the convention, poses with the two officials.
