Medicine: Capsules, Dec. 23, 1957

¶The mutant Asian strain of flu virus has already caused “the most widespread influenza epidemic in 40 years,” said Surgeon General Leroy E. Burney of the U.S. Public Health Service. His estimate: 15 million to 20 million cases in the U.S. since Sept.1. Though the peak of the first wave has passed, Dr. Burney urged prompt use of the vaccine now available to guard against a second wave early in 1958. ¶ Grants of $500,000 each to three universities (Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Pittsburgh) were announced by the Rockefeller Foundation for training and research programs to prepare public health experts to guard civilians against the health hazards of nuclear radiation. ¶Ultrasound vibrations (TIME, Dec. 2), already available for high-speed painless drilling, were demonstrated to Greater New York dentists as a means of cleaning the teeth. At 26,000 vibrations per second, a blunt, smooth tip on the instrument dislodges accumulations of calculus (tartar), including those below the gumline, where they do the most harm, while a continuous fine jet of lukewarm water washes the debris away. Advantages: to the dentist, speed; to the patient, gentleness, as compared with sharp scrapers, and reduced danger of injury to the teeth.