Show THE FLU IS COMING BACK SAYS DR GEIER If U You Hope to Keep Your Health This Autumn Get Yourself in inThe inThe The Pink of Condition Condition Condition Con Con- I J J By Dy Frederic J. J Haskin It you hope to keep your he health healthy this autumn get yourself into the the pink of physical condition and ta take e all possible precautions to avoid infectIon in in in- in For the flu fiu is going to hit us again and the amount of or damage it will do depends largely upon upon how how how- well we prepare for it This is the cheering message of Dr Otto Geier of or Cincinnati secretary of the Amen Amerl- can Medical association Already the visitation of the most moat dramatic and f destructive plague of ot modern times is beginning to grow dim in the memories of many people people people peo peo- T and this despite the fact that there are reminders of it everywhere Nearly everyone has a friend who is la lanot not able to work as ashe he did before he he- got the flu Nearly everyone wh who has traveled during the past ye year r and inquired for old friends has heard again and again the depressing r words he died of the flu Nearly everyone has noticed to too the surprising number of women with short hair Some of these are afflicted with artistic Inclinations but hut most of them gave up their crowning glory reluctantly enough after having the flu Indeed in some sections the flu is said to have created ere ere- quite a vogue for bobbed hair Short hair is the least serious of ot the effects after of influenza Dr Geier says that It will wUl add 40 per cent to the mortality rate for the next five years This means that 40 per cent more people will die than would have died had there been no flu The They will die because this strangely weakening weakening weakening weak weak- ening disease has sapped their resistance res resistance tance lance to other diseases These fearful after-affects after of the flu fiu even more than the number of oC Jives lives It destroys at once make it a a. national calamity which we can ill afford to pass through again The country cO is strewn with men who thought that they were In iu the their r prime and who got over the flu fiu only to find that that- they were old and about done with who can no longer be wives or mothers since they had the flu and with children whose whoso growth has been checked One or two more winters with such epidemics ics and the United States will have suffered almost as much loss of haman human human hu hu- man power vas gas as some European countries countries countries coun coun- tries did through the war In support of oC his claim that the influenza epidemic will recur Dr Geier cites the record of the nearly allied disease of la grippe which appeared appeared appeared ap ap- ap- ap in epidemic form in 1899 It did not reach its peak until 1901 and two years after alter that it ft recurred and destroyed thousands of lives We l' l have had two other epidemics o 4 grippe or influenza one influenza one in 1867 and the other in and 1896 and both of these showed the same recurrent quality In the face of this literal certainty that we will have to combat influenza again next year we are totally unprepared unprepared unprepared un un- prepared to do so Medical knows little more about influenza today to to- to- to today day than it did a year ago when the tho scourge was spreading like Uke a prairie fire over all nIl the world For this reason rea rea- SOIl son the doctors are making elaborate and aud extensive research into the cause and effect of tho disease in order to try to be better prepared for the next outbreak Medical men are hopeful t i of oC discovering a n specific remedy for forthe forthe the he flu as was done in the cases of yellow fever diphtheria and typhus fever ever Among the medical men of this country making studies of the flure flu are re Dr William H H. H Park famous bas bas' bac- bac and head of the bureau of ot laboratories of the department o of health in New York Dr John F F. Anerson An- An n 1 derson erson former Cormer director of the y- y glens glene laboratory of the federal government government gov- gov and Dr E. E L. L Fisk director i of f the Life Lile Extension Institute Tho The American 1 Medical associations association Is s promoting this research work At Atts its ts recent convention in Atlantic City a resolution was adopted asking congress congress con- con gress ress to appropriate to stimulate and em encourage courage research work This suggestion was acted upon pon the other day when Representative Representative Fess of Ohio introduced a resolution resolution reso- reso lution ution In congress congress for tho Continued on Page 3 THE FLU COMING CO BACK Continued from Page One of that amunt The money Is Isto Isto isto to be 00 turned over to the United States public health service to be used for cooperation In the research work that thatIs Is Is being carried o on by the various state health departments Not only are the medical men of the country preparing for a reappearance reappearance reappearance reap reap- of the disease but civic organizations organizations organizations or or- in different communities which undertook to care for the numerous numerous numerous nu nu- victims of the epidemic a year ago are also making plans against W a recurrence of the malady These organizations organizations or or- do not I Intend tend to be bec c caught off oft their guard guard in the event of another outbreak and In a number number number num num- ber of towns throughout the United States special committees have been appointed to make preparations for Just such an emergency During the epidemic a year ago many thousands of people died solely for want of careIn care In his letter to Congressman Fess urging the federal Geier gives some Impressive facts about the flu fiu He says It caused half halfa I a million deaths In this country last year and that it cost the Insurance companies The economic loss to the country he says is hard to estimate but ItIs it itis itis is enormous Economists agree that thata a human life is worth at least to the state so that the monetary value of the lives lost alone would be bo a about out Add to this the working time lost by people who were sick and the total economic econom econom- ic is loss to the country is somewhere between three and four billion bUlIon Dr Geier cites these figures to show that It will pay the taxpayers to let congress congress congress con con- gress spend some of their money preparing preparing preparing pre pre- paring to prevent a recurrence of the flu This loss of time and man power he says is not really half so important import import- tant t- t ant as the Impairment of the count countI country's coun coun- t tI try's health the health the long-lingering long af af- ter affects of the disease As an example example ex ex- ample of what these amount to I eX-I In one city Dr Geier Celer states that the Red Cross chapter In Cincinnati is Is' Is In examining persons persons persons per per- sons who have had influenza and finding in a enormous percentage of cases that they have come through t the disease with Impaired organs organs- heart kidney or lungs It is also carIng caring caring car- car Ing for or a great greaf many chronic Invalids who were able to maKe mage their own living before belore they had the flu fiu Dr Geier firmly believes that the tho flu fiu problem can be solved by medical I science One Ono after another mysterious mysterious mysterious rious diseases have appeared to kill killand killand and baffle and one after another they have been conquered Typhoid yellow fever diphtheria typhus typhus- they were each at one time as deadly and mysterious as the flu is now In each case the germ was discovered which caused the disease and then a specific was made or discovered which j would kill the germ This same method must and will be applied to the flu fiu Many eminent scientists set set- ent enlists are making st studies of the sub suh- What is needed is an I I j and authority to enable the public health service to ordinate co all these efforts and make them into a national campaign against the plague |