Medicine: Oil Pneumonia

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Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs. It can be caused by any one of 33 types of pneumococci, by many other bacteria, or by viruses. Last fortnight, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Paul Roberts Cannon of the University of Chicago warned physicians of another, "manmade" form of the disease: oil pneumonia.

Oil pneumonia can be caused by: 1) constant use of oily nose drops; 2) nightly doses of mineral oil for constipation; 3) forced feedings of cod-liver or halibut-liver oil to rebellious children. Often the oil slides down the throat into the lungs, where it clogs up air sacs, inflames delicate tissues, forms abscesses and scars. Victims develop a hacking cough, run a low fever. Lipid or oil pneumonia is difficult to diagnose, for few physicians know much about it, and different oils cause different symptoms. In old people oil pneumonia is sometimes mistaken for cancer of the lung. Pneumonia caused by bacteria can be successfully combated with serums and sulfapyridine or sulfathiazole; for lipid pneumonia there is no treatment. At present, said Dr. Cannon, oil pneumonia is recognized chiefly at autopsy.

When lipid pneumonia was discovered 15 years ago, doctors believed it was a children's disease. But, said Dr. Cannon last fortnight, "accumulated evidence has proved . . . that it affects all ages. . . . It is now certain that healthy persons may develop severe types of lipid pneumonia, especially if they use medicated liquid petrolatum intranasally in large quantities over long periods of time. . . . Abandonment of this type of medication will be slow because of the fact that so many persons have used oily nose drops with no apparent ill effects."

Dr. Cannon believes that such oils may carry bacteria and viruses from the nose into the lungs. But cod-liver oil, though it is "extremely injurious to pulmonary tissues," is often essential for a child's diet. It should never be given to struggling children, never be fed to infants while they are lying on their backs. Safe procedure: give a few drops at a time, or use vitamin concentrates.