Fever Every Wednesday?

If a man complains of a headache every Monday morning, it may just be hangover. If he gets fever or a bellyache every Wednesday, or at some other regular interval, he may be suffering from "periodic disease," an ailment which has doctors thoroughly baffled.

Professor Hobart A. Reimann of Philadelphia's Jefferson Medical College coined the name to cover a group of mysterious ailments which have been cropping up in medical records for almost 150 years. .Victims may get fever (up to 104DEG), abdominal pains, swollen joints, purple spots and patches, swelling or hives. More men than women are afflicted.

In the hundreds of cases studied by Dr. Reimann, no guilty germ has been found. Allergies and hormone upsets have been accused, then cleared of blame. Dr. Reimann does not suggest that the psyche has anything to do with it, though heredity may. The disease often appears in infancy; in one family, 24 members of five generations have been affected. No treatment seems to check the disease. On the other hand, it is no killer: between bouts, patients are fit & well.

In most cases the illness recurs every seven days, or in multiples of seven. Some patients' cycles get longer or shorter over the years, and some never fit the weekly pattern.

Dr. Reimann does not pretend to know what causes periodic disease, but he believes it is a good thing to have the puzzling facts known: if periodic disease is recognized, victims may be spared useless operations (such as appendectomies) and tedious treatments to no purpose.

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