Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-11-23 | Page 4 | The Influenza Epidemic

THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC. Citizens generally will rejoice that an earnest, united attempt is being ma'lc to combat the epidemic of Spanish influenza. in-fluenza. Indeed, with this contort of effort it is easily within the possibilities possibili-ties that the influenza may be stamped out in Salt Lake City within a few-days. few-days. Stringent regulations have been issued, and these arc to be rigorously enforced. In the enforcement the health authorities are entitled to the most generous co-operation of physicians and citizens generally. These regulations are in exact accordance accor-dance with those originally issued by Dr. Beatty of the state board of health on October 10, but which, for a variety of reasons, have not becu adequately enforced. Ve believe that the obstacles to complete enforcement have been removed re-moved and that the regulations will bo given wholehearted support by officials and public alike. Spanish influenza has proved to be a treacherous disease, and it seems to have been necessary for many persons to die before the public could be induced in-duced to accept the. expert medical judgment judg-ment as to the actual peril of the epidemic. epi-demic. Part of tho difficulty of the enforcement of tho regulations has been due to the nature of tho disease itself. Many persons who have contracted' it have apparently recovered quickly, have gone out and mingled with the public and have not only spread the disease, but, in many instances, have themselves been stricken dow-n with pneumonia, resulting re-sulting in their death. In a number of cases no physician has been called, and iu many others tho physician has failed to make tho required report. Now tho health departments of the slate and city are to have the active co-operation of the citizens' committee headed by Mr. Casey, which is pledged to two purposes the rigid isolation of infected persons and the prevention of crowds. Every good citizen should assist to tho extent of his ability in soeing that these regulations are observed. ob-served. Tho more fully they are obeyed, tho more quickly will the epidemic be over. As the course of the disease is short, a quarantine of all infected persons per-sons might easily wipe out the epidemic within a few days.