Capsules

P: Hypnosis may be an effective technique in controlling persistent hiccups. So say Internists Gordon Bendersky and Martin Badin in the A.M.A.'s Archives of Internal Medicine. They cite one patient who began hiccuping after hospital treatment for a coronary occlusion, failed to respond to a wide range of conventional treatments (e.g., drugs, sedation, nerve stimulation). After one session of deep hypnosis, the attacks stopped. Many doctors disregard hypnosis on the ground that it suppresses symptoms without attacking the ailment's cause (whether emotional or organic), but the authors argue otherwise. Their conclusion: Because psychological problems may be the dominant factor in many cases of hiccups, hypnosis can be a most effective treatment, especially when surgery is impracticable or when the spasms are a danger to life.

P: Should everyone be immunized against lockjaw? Yes, answers Immunologist Dr. Geoffrey Edsall of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, in a report to the A.M.A.'s Council on Drugs. Only 25% of the population has been immunized, yet the tetanus bacillus is present in many open wounds; thus the disease is a clear threat (an average 325 deaths a year) to anyone. The tetanus immunization shot, says Dr. Edsall, is not only one of the safest toxoids known to man, it is also among the most effective: the U.S. Army's tetanus rate was 13 per 100,000 injuries in preimmunization World War I, only twelve cases for 2,500,000 injuries during World War II.

P:The nation's worst polio season since Salk vaccine came into widespread use in 1955 shows no certain signs of letup. The figures for the week ending Sept. 19, according to the U.S. Public Health Service: 515 new cases, 326 of them paralytic, up from 510 cases (273 paralytic) the week before. Totals for the year to date: 5,520 cases, 3,400 of them paralytic, an increase of 83% from 1958.

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