Medicine: Pneumonia Flight - TIME
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In the United States these bitter words aroused echoes. Discontented citizens took up the accusation. A feeling that aviation was unscrupulous, newspapers debased, that the public had been hoaxed, even that Charles Augustus Lindbergh had lent a hand to this nefarious business sprang up. Letters poured in to the newspapers demanding explanations. Was it just a publicity stunt? Why was not the serum used, if it was needed? Why did it have to be sent dramatically from Manhattan by air when Montreal was known as a great medical centre? What was the pretty touch about sending the white mice?
Justification. Such squealing sceptics show by their questions that they know nothing about
1) The course of pneumonia;
2) The treatment of pneumonia;
3) The research made in pneumonia.
Even Prime Ministers and Provincial Secretaries may be ignorant of medicine. Every step that was taken was absolutely justified and imperative.
Dr. Alvan L. Barach was chosen as consultant because he has developed the oxygen tent which has already saved many otherwise hopeless cases of pneumonia. The pneumonia patient generally suffocates to death. The lungs become congested, he cannot take in enough air to keep alive, he gasps, coughs, turns blue in the face, dies. Dr. Barach's oxygen tent surrounds the patient's head and chest with an atmosphere of 60% oxygen. He no longer fights for air, it is fed to him. This was the tent through which Bennett greeted Lindbergh; in which he lived from the moment of Dr. Barach's arrival.
It was necessary to send the serum from New York, by airplane. Pneumonia is not a simple, single disease. Originally the term "pneumonia" meant any disease characterized by high fever and inflammation of the parenchyma of the lungs. The vast number of causescolds, bronchitis, influenza, typhoid fever, measles, fatigue, exposureindicates its complexity. During the War men died of pneumonia after inhaling poison gases.
The Pneumonia. A large family of organisms called the pneumococci are responsible for the various types of pneumonia. They fall into four great groups, Types I, II, III, IV. For Types I and II excellent sera have been prepared from horses. These can be found in any large city in the world, including Montreal, although there was none obtainable in Quebec. Horse serum, however, makes many sick people worse. The foreign proteins introduced into the human body may cause chills, sweating, suffocation, fainting: obviously not the best stimulation for a Floyd Bennett with a temperature of 103 degrees; a pulse of 124 beats a minute; a left lung full of pus. This was the Type II serum at Montreal; pure enough but containing horse serum.
For three years Drs. Felton and Rosenow at Harvard and Drs. Park and Banzhaf at the New York City Board of Health had worked to get the horse serum out of the final product. Finally they were successful. They developed a method of growing the antibodies in the horse, making the serum, then refining it until all the horse serum was removed, leaving only the helpful antibodies. The refined product is ten times as effective and has no dangerous after effects. There is only one place in Canada or the United States where this serum is prepared: the Board of Health of the City of New York. This is the serum that was sent by air for Floyd Bennett.
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