OCR Text |
Show WHAT IS IT, PLAGUE OF INFLUENZA? H "A letter to the Standard from a k young man in the navy, says: "Ogden would do well to follow San Francisco's influenza regulations, H Masks have been found to be benefi-H benefi-H cial; also a quinine spray for the nose Hj and throat. These are two things we K have had at San Pedro, and there Is Hj not a case of 'flu' in the camp. Here H at San Francisco we used masks and H sprays and there was not a death H from the disease." B A doctor visiting in Ogden, who has H had wide experience in Asia, declares H! the epidemic to be pneumonic plague, ' Hj carried from China to France when Hj the coolies -were imported back of the lines to do the work of laborers. He advises the use of masks as absolute-ly absolute-ly essential, and he expresses aston-ishment aston-ishment that Ogden medical men have not made a practice of wearing masks H in attending the sick. In China, he said, the doctors wore a hood on their H visits to the afflicted. By so doing and insisting on strict quarantine the pjague was checked. H . He points to the fact that tho Chi- nese in the United States have almost escaped the ravishes of the epidemic, B and sees in this, further evidence that B the disease is pneumonic plague which B the Chinese are capable of fighting off because they have, in great meas- ure, been Immunized through repeat- od attacks which 'have swopt through China. But tho last Medical Record received In Ogden rejects this theory of plague and holds to tho opinion that tho influenza influ-enza Is pnndomic and has appeared at such widely separated points owing to the depressed mental condition of the people of the -world. This is a remarkable remark-able statement from tho beBt modlcal authority as it rocognlzcs tho tremendous tremen-dous power of the mind over the body and points to the necessity of a spiritual spirit-ual and mental toning up as the greatest great-est essential to a successful fighting off of the disease. The article in the Modlcal Record is so out of the ordinary that we quote it in full as follows: There can.be no doubt that the world has been or still is in the grip of a pandemic of influenza and of the associated asso-ciated affections which habitually follow fol-low in its train, such as has not been known in our times; nay, perchance not since the Mlddlo Ages. There is, howovor, nothing in the pandemic for which ample historical parallels cannot can-not bo found, and every characteristic at present reported can bo traced in the old records. Such outbreaks have been noted in the earliest records to which we have access, and In their more virulent forms they have usually extended with amazing swiftness throughout tho world. It has been well said that influenza is the "crux of epidemiology," epi-demiology," and although it is the most gate, still it is not to the credit of medical med-ical science that 30 little is known relative to its origin. In the matter of origin, although not necessarily of development, nil that can be said with some degree of certainty at the present writing is that it would seem to bo quito independent of climate, ol rnce, and of seasonal influences and variations varia-tions of both weather and winds, Influenza per so Is not a highly fatal process, and because for the past twenty twen-ty years it has appeared only in comparatively com-paratively mild types the medical profession pro-fession has looked upon it far loo complacently. com-placently. It has, however, frequently been associated in extreme cases with pneumonia, and what makes this year's visitation most serious is that in all countries people are dying of septic pneumonia, which often supervenes unless un-less the most rigorous prophylactic measures, are quickly taken. The existence ex-istence of diphtheroid conditions of the ( throat has also been noted in England. Eng-land. It will be well to reject onco and for all the fanciful theories which unquestionably exist, largely due to the erroneous belief that this pandem-jic pandem-jic is something new. ' It certainly did not originate in malnutrition, because France, England, Spain, and Switzerland Switzer-land are not underfed in the strict meaning of the word. Even If they were, the American continent Is not underfed, yet Influenza has had a paralyzing para-lyzing effect upon activities in the United States and Canada. Influenza has nothing to do with the admixture of other forma of nutriment nutri-ment with wheat, as has been suggested. suggest-ed. Its extension is not particularly due to tho rapidity of modern transportation, transpor-tation, for it crossed seas and continents conti-nents with incrodiblc swiftness when railroads .and steamships were unknown. un-known. There Is nothing novel in the outbreaks at sea, for thousands of instances in-stances of the kind have been established. estab-lished. It Is not tho old English 'sweating sickness," which never be-came be-came pandemic, and disclosed a very different symptomatology. It is not a benign typo of pneumonic plague, though in an article In the Medical Record of October 12, Dr. King showed that there was a striking similarity in the two disease, and certain curious cases reported some time ago on a ship at Gothenburg would seem to demand de-mand further Investigation. Most emphatically em-phatically It bears no relation to trench fever, which is a louso-borne process. There is no evidence which directly connects the pandemic with the war at all. Typhus, "smallpox, plague, dysentery, typhoid fever, and scurvy are disease of warfare, as has been amply demonstrated in Germany and Austria-Hungary almost since tho commencement of the Teuton onslaught, on-slaught, but Influenza Is not among the generally accepted pestilences of war. However, the possibility that there may bo some relation between it and tho consequences of the war cannot be entirely eliminated. Wo know little lit-tle of the connection between mind and disease, and for some years the peoples of the world have unqucstion-ably unqucstion-ably been in an abnormal and over, strained mental state. The germs of disease are -with us constantly, and we carry not a few of them in our bodies in an innocuous state until some sub-tie sub-tie change of physical and mental condition con-dition makes the human soil favorable for the pullulation, perhaps quickened by contact from without. The sur. roundings of the continental peoples are less healthy, sanitation has certainly cer-tainly been neglected, drainage has become Imperfect, houses have fallen i Into dlsropair, with tho inevitable resulting re-sulting dampness which mnkes dwellings dwell-ings a hotbed of disease. The shifting i of tho population has resulted in overcrowding over-crowding in certain areas, and Influenza Influen-za flourishes in crowds. Though in the allied nations food has been sufficient in quantity, changes in diet among thorn must have had a bad effect. The lack of sugar, the most easily realized form of enorgy, has cortainly had un-fortunato un-fortunato results, especially upon women and children. The milk question ques-tion nnd the difficulty about fats nro equally serious factors, and should be taken into careful consideration, although al-though all such are absent in this country, which has suffered severely from Influenza. The rise and decline of great epidemic diseases havo perplexed per-plexed mankind throughout the ages. Hcckcr believes that great epidemics had a "cosmical origin." Simon held that "the chemistry of our globe is subject sub-ject to variations, perhaps definitely progressive or cyclical, in which human hu-man epidemics are but a part." Yet the conundrum of influenza should not bo Insolublo, and we hope before this recrudescence re-crudescence of the disease has on-tlrely on-tlrely subsided that tho mystery surrounding sur-rounding it will be cleared away. |