THE MALADY LINGERS ON

In August, when a mysterious virus attacked some 60 Fort Worthians from the Ridg-mararea, the so-called “Ridg-mar Disease” made daily headlines. Attacked by low grade fever, aching swollen joints, lethargy, and depression, the victims appeared initially to constitute the makings of a small but potentially scary epidemic. The nightmare of the Legionnaires’ Disease haunted some people.

But it’s been quiet lately in Ridgmar. We presumed that no news was good news. That the mystery had been solved.

Nope. According to Dr. W. V. Bradshaw, director of the Fort Worth health department, the Ridgmar Disease is still baffling local and state health officials. “We suspect now,” says Bradshaw, “that it must be some bizarre virus that simply hasn’t been identified yet. Because we’ve turned the area upside down and inside out trying to find the source – and we’ve eliminated everything.”

But while the Ridgmar mystery is dormant, it is not forgotten. It seems that the fashionable Ridgmar neighborhood of West Fort Worth does not have a monopoly on this elusive little bacteria. Dr. Alexis Shelokov of San Antonio’s UT Health Science Center has been studying the strange malady since 1953 and reports cases have been discovered across the U.S. and Europe (it is, in fact, more widely known as the “Iceland Syndrome”). Every outbreak is regarded as new evidence, so Shelokov is currently attempting to conduct tests on the Ridgmar victims. There’s been little progress. So far only two of the victims – a doctor and his wife – have volunteered for the tests in San Antonio. One factor is that the volunteers themselves have to pay the costs of the expensive tests. Another factor is that of the 60 persons jumping on the epidemic bandwagon, only six were ultimately verified as Ridgmar disease victims. Most of the other 54 were apparently victims of bad colds coupled with a bad case of nameinthenewspaper-itis. It may be just coincidence, but since the publicity has died down, there has not been a single new case reported. We only hope this report doesn’t cause a relapse.