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Show SPANISH INFLUENZA ! "THREEDAY FEVER" What is Spanish Influenzal? Is it Something New? Does it Come from Spain? UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH HOARD ANSWERS : How Can It lie Recognized. W hat is Its Course and What Should He Done by Those Who Catch Ihe Pis-ease? Pis-ease? Read and Find Out. The? disease now occurring in this country and called Spanish Influenza resembles a very contagious kind of cold accompanied by fever, pains in the head, eyes, ears, back or other parts of the body, and a feeling of severe se-vere sickness. In most of the case.-i the symptoms disappear after three or four days, the patient then rapidly recovering; some of the patients, however, how-ever, develop pneumonia, or inflammation inflam-mation of the ear or meningitis, and many of these complicated cases die. Whether this so-called "Spanish" Influenza In-fluenza is identical with the epidemics of influena of earlier years is not yet known. Epidemics of influenza have visited visit-ed this country since 1H47. It is interesting in-teresting to know that this first epidemic epi-demic was brought here from Valencia, Valen-cia, Spain. Since that time there have been numerous epidemics of the dis ease. In 1889 und 18!)0 an epidemic of influenza, starting somewhere in the Orient, spread first to Russia, and thence over practically the entire civilized civ-ilized world. Three years later there was another flare-up of the disease. Beth times the epidemic spread widely wide-ly over the United States. Althoi'gh the present epidemic is called "Spanish Influenza," there is no PSMOH to believe that it originated in Spain. Some writers who have tudied the i)uestion believe that the epidemic came from the Orient and they call attention to the fact that the Germans mention the disease as occurring along the eastern front in the summer and fall of 1!)17. How Can "Spanish Influenza" be Recognized? There is as yet no certain way in which a single case of "Spanish Influenza" Influ-enza" can be recognized, on the other hand, recognition is easy where there is a group of cases. In contrast to the outbreaks of ordinary coughs and colds, which usually occur in the cold months, epidemics of influenza may , occur at any season of the year; thus the present epidemic raged most in-I in-I tensely in Europe in May, June and j July. Moreover, in ne ruse of ordin-I ordin-I ary colds the general symptoms (fever, (fe-ver, pain depression) are by no means as sever or as sudden in their onset as they are in influenzu. Finally, ordin- iliey .hi in iiinueiiAu. i iiiiuiy, uiuiii- ary colds do not spread through the ccommunity so rapidly or so extensively extensive-ly as does influenza. In most cases a person taken sick with influenza feels sick rather suddenly. sud-denly. He feels weak, hus pains in the eyes, ears, head or back, and may be sore all over. Many patients feel dizzy, some vomit. Most of the pu-tieuts pu-tieuts camplain of feeling chilly, and with this comes a fever in which the temperature rises to 100 or 101. In most cases the pulse remains relatively relative-ly slow. In appearance one is struck by the fact that the patient looks sick. His eyes and the inner side of his eyelids may be slightly "bloodshot" or "congested," "con-gested," as the doctors say. There may be running of the, nose or there may be some cough. These signs of a cold muy not be marked, nevertheless neverthe-less the patient looks and feels very sick. la addition to the appearance and lymptoms as already described, examination ex-amination of the patient's blood may aid the physician in recognizing Spanish Span-ish Influenzal, for it has been found that in this disease the number of white corpuscles shows little o- no in- creass above the normal. It is poa Ibis that the laboratory investigations investiga-tions now being made through the National Research Council and the United states Hygienic Laboratory will furnish a more terrain WSJ in which individual CSSSS of this dl Can bs recognized. (Continued on fifth page.) v. |
