Show INFLUENZA IN PARIS since this is the word a la mode let us call the epidemic de grippe which prevails to some extent at the present time in paris by the name of influenza it was reported ted that a certain number of em aloyes of the administration of the postal service as well aj some of those of the telegraphic corps had been seized with au an illness similar to io the one that the employed emp loyes of the magazina Maga du londre have experienced perien perlen ced upon the request of the prefect of police the doctors bron ardel dean of the medical faculty and profess eur a la faoul te both members of the counsel have responded and visited the magazina Maga du louvre louvre for the purpose of investigating upon the spot the epidemic which the personnel of this establishment were said to be under the infection of dr has given to the parisian press the following information upon this subject the result of our inquest has been that the ordinary indispose dons contracted each year at the commencement of winter more especially at excessive periods of df rain has been but little exceeded until about eight days since the personnel of the magazines du louvre reaches the figures of nearly persons the number of employed emp loyes marked as absent on account of sickness or indisposition was daily upon an average yesterday it reached about the middle of the week it exceeded IM M Bro and myself examined at the infirmary some thirty patients and interrogated a certain number of employed emp loyes who having recovered had resumed their labors these are the symptoms that we have ascertained by them and that all have without exception experienced this malady presents certain peculiarities and is above all remarkable in this sense of being distinguished by its mildness its short duration and the absence of any serious throat complications it is characterized at the first appearance pe arance by a violent headache intense pain in the back and extreme lassitude habitually the grippe that was formerly known lasted from six to eight days while in the case which now concerns us the patient can resume his labors at the end of two or three days one noticeable fact is is the absence of congestion of the respiratory organs the headache however has always been alleviated advantageously by and convalescence is often established after two to or three days of repose neither the water nor the alimentation said the eminent specialist plays any role in the propagation of this affection and as in all the epidemics of grippe we are compelled to seek the cause in an atmospheric influence or modification thus in russia it has been stated that the appearance of the grippe had taken place at a time when the thermometer had varied twenty degrees in a space ol of time relatively short these phenomena are rather frequent in the extreme north the situation is inversed when the mercury falls this 14 i the case at the present time when the epidemic which spread through st bt petersburg abruptly diminished at the same time that the temperature abated desirous of giving accurate information upon the epidemic which actually rages in different russian cities I 1 have made a request through the minister of foreign affairs fai r to ou our r ambassador at st petersburg to transmit a series of information drawn from the investigations of the bussina in society of hygiene here to is the note that I 1 have i just received from this society the epidemic which reigns at st petersburg also at moscow as well as at Seba is called influenza it had already appeared in 1847 it has the character of a grippe and is at the same time gastric cerebral and muscular it is attributed to the frequent changes of temperature it is not contagious the duration of the malady does not exceed eight days the fever rises to 40 degrees and leaves a great depression there are not any fatal cases then en resume continued doctor the epidemic which rages at st petersburg is the grippe and not the dengue as it has been wrongly stated the epidemic of paris is an epidemic epi lemic of g grippe r ippe very attenuated and very eay benign it la Is probable that if the weather should become cold it i would dis disappear appear promptly it has been rumored that the influenza had bad been brought to the maga zius du louvre by a bale of tapis conent dO dlO nent neng this hypothesis said dr is completely complete ty erroneous rone ous the administration of the louvre does not receive these carpets from the orient directly but instead from the london docks where they remain sometimes two erthree or three years year after their arrival from the orient besides several months have elapsed since the louvre received any shipment of this nature here is now the text of the report addressed by MM Brou ardel and to the prefect of police pertaining to the subject of the infection which has been experienced by the employed emp loyes of the louvre I 1 mon monsieur akur de prefect de police the of december Deu ember at 10 am we have repaired to the magazis du louvre for the purpose of investigating the nature and gravity of the epidemic that we were notified ol of we have been led to form the following conclusions which seem to us to give an exact idea of the actual state of things the epidemic which has stricken the employed emp loyes of the grand magazina maga du louvre is the grippe in a mild form for the maximum duration of this malady it appears never to have exceeded four days and on the other hand has not given place to any complications 2nd and the epidemic seems to have commenced on november 26 the ordinary average of absentees is daily cut of employed emp loyes prom from november 26 the number of absentees has gradually increased by attaining the figures of and on deamber dei De ember 8 9 and 10 but it is proper to add that the number of rent rants 8 which was at the first mentioned date appeared to augment from day to day 3 we have searched for the possible cause of this epidemic our researches res arches have not yet reached any precise results 4 this epidemic is not of a nature to cause any inquietude whatever it does not dot aquire i any preventive measure or special prophylactic signed BRox ARDEL translated from a paris journal by GEORGE HAMLIN SALT LAKE CITY dec 26 1889 |