362 Coiutmit 



Sometimes the valves fail to close 

 tightly. Leaking valves indirectly cause 

 the heart to work harder than normally 

 and vigorous exercise then strains it un- 

 duly. Scarlet fever, rheumatic fever, and 

 other infectious diseases sometimes leave 

 the heart in a weakened condition. This 

 condition may be outgrown when the 

 disease occurs in childhood. 



Accidents. Look again at the table on 

 page 360. Accidents must be classed as 

 one of the principal causes of death. In 

 general they occur in and about the 

 home. Automobiles come next as the 

 cause of accidents. Accidents suffered by 

 men and women in industry are less 

 common and yet, all too common. The 

 number of such accidents has been much 

 reduced and can be still further reduced 

 when employers and labor unions join 

 in demanding and using every possible 

 safety device. 



Among children of school age acci- 

 dents cause more than one fourth of all 

 deaths. The five principal causes of death 

 from disease among children in this 

 country are influenza, pneumonia, rheu- 

 matic fever, tuberculosis, and appendici- 

 tis. All five of these combined take fewer 

 lives than accidents. Most accidents are 

 avoidable; many of them are the result 

 of carelessness of one kind or another. 

 See Exercise i. 



Appendicitis. Appendicitis, or inflam- 

 mation of the appendix, is caused by 

 bacteria but it is not a disease which you 

 can catch from someone else. Bacteria 

 attack the wall of the appendix, thus 

 causing it to swell. As the inflammation 

 increases there is pain, usually but not 

 always in the region of the appendix 

 (lower right abdominal region). Any 



Care Is Needed for Health unit vi 



abdominal pain, therefore, especially if 

 it occurs repeatedly, may be an indica- 

 tion of appendicitis. This is particularly 

 true of young people of high school age, 

 in whom appendicitis is most likely to 

 occur. 



Rest and ice packs are the best treat- 

 ment. Hot pads and laxatives must be 

 avoided. A doctor should be consulted 

 if the pain lasts for more than a few- 

 hours. The physician may then take a 

 blood count, for with any serious infec- 

 tion the white blood cells increase two- 

 or threefold very rapidly. He may rec- 

 ommend an operation. Waiting too long 

 may result in the bursting of the appen- 

 dix and the spreading of the infection to 

 the lining of the abdominal cavity {peri- 

 tonitis). If attacks are frequent even 

 though mild an "interval" operation may 

 be advisable to prevent a more serious 

 attack and to keep pus from being added 

 to the blood. A serious attack could al- 

 most always be avoided if everyone knew 

 the common symptoms and knew what 

 not to do. 



Better health is needed. Our life ex- 

 pectancy has increased to an astonishing 

 degree in the last fifty years. There is 

 still much to be done about keeping all 

 of us in good health at all times. Among 

 nine million men examined for the armed 

 forces during World War II, 4:? out of 

 every 100 were found physically or 

 mentalh' unfit. Reasons for rejection are 

 indicated in Figure 318. 



Figures from industry, too, show a 

 great deal of absence due to illness. The 

 United States Public Health Service re- 

 ports that during the year 1943 the num- 

 ber of eight-day absences among men 

 because of illness and accidents which 



