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Show INFLUENZA There have been some peculiar features of the influenza epidemic which have attracted attention in all parts of the country- In this state an instance is told of some men on a sheep ranch who had been Isolated from the rest of mankind for weeks, and one of them became sick with influenza. All of the men contracted contract-ed the disease, and it became necessary neces-sary for one who was less sick than the others to make his way to assistance. as-sistance. He dragged himself to a highway some miles away and finally final-ly secured aid. Three out of the four men died. I On the other hand is the story of the attempt to cause a number of healthy men to catch the disease at San Francisco and it was not possible pos-sible to give'a single one of them the ailment. One of the interesting comments on the latter situation 1b printed in the Oakland Enquirer, In part as follows: "The experiments made at Goat Island by navy doctors in an effort to learn something about the influenza influen-za germ, carry a lesson that every person should study and understand. "Fifty young sailors volunteerer to become influenza victims that the doctors might study the disease more carefully. These young men had no fear of the disease; they willingly offered of-fered 'themselves. They were placed with flu patients; they were given jars of flu germs which they breathed breath-ed into their lungs; they had flu germs injected Into their bodies. Then the medical men prepared to study the cases as they developed, "But no case developed among those 50 sailors. "These men had been Inoculated; they had been exposed to the disease dis-ease in every manner; they had breathed in the germs and eaten and slept with the flu victims, and not one of them became Infected. "The medical men confessed themselves them-selves baffled. -All their ideas of the disease were turned topsy-turvy. The bunk about the masks was again exposed; and it was shown that the disease was not communicable communi-cable not contagious. The doctors are still wondering. The explanation however, is simplicity itself, for it was proved by each one of these 50 young men. "These young men volunteered to act as subjects upon which to be experimented. ex-perimented. This showed clearly that they did not fear the disease. In other words, they could not acquire ac-quire what they did not fear. Since their fear of the disease was absolutely abso-lutely non-existent, even though, every ev-ery effort was made to force It on them.." |
