The Washington times., 1901-09-08
GRIP AS A GLoBE-TRoTTER.
The DistressinS AiIIncnt Has Encir-
c1cd the World.

1
That distressing ailment, influenza, COM
| monty known as the grip. did not. like
| Verne's voyager. encircle the globe in
| eighty days, but it has accomplished the
journey just the same. much to the dis
comfort of those whom it has attacked
| II has been called the Russian scourge
| because 1t made its first European ap-
pearance in that country. but properly It
| is an Asiatc distemper, and to that con-
tinent 1t returned by way of the United
states Japan has caught this infection
from San Francisco and the little brown
men ana women of the Mikado's realm
are having their days and nights of pro-
tracted sneezing and coughing.
IN countries where borean blasts are un-
known the grip has found a Judgment 1t
has appeared at intervals in Calcutta In
the last eleven years, and it has caused
an appreciable addition to the mortality
Few Europeans or natives In the large
towns have escaped.
In Persia the grip came first about four
teen years ago. In the winter of 1887 and
lhSS, when it became epidemic and raised
the mortality by a large percentage.
Since then there has been n recurrence of
the disease nearly every winter. In Per-
sia the technical name for the grip is
applied to influenza In horses Still, in
that country, the mortality from grip
among foreigners has been exceedingly
low.
Within the last six months half the
people of Sivas, Turkey, have been down
with the grip. Yet the mortality was
slight. The treatment for this, as well
as for most other diseases, consists of a
hot he Ifr
and the danger of infection from can be
understood from the fact that in an or
phanage containing 120 inmates fifty-five
were taken sick with influenza within
three days after a visit to the Turkish
baths.
In Valencia, Spain, the various epidem-
les of the grip have sent the mortality up
about 60 per cent. Last winter having
been exceptionally severe, influenza ap-
peared again in a mild. though complicat-
ed FORM affecting the weaker organs, and
this gave rise to classification of death
from some organic disease rather than
from the grip itself.
In Gothenberg, Sweden, the grip is an
old enemy, having appeared there for the
first time, SO far as known. in 1852, and
being known then influenza. The
grip years for this city were 1900 1904,
1898. 1887. 1851. and 1864. and this did not
appear in the city again until 1889. the
first year of the worldwide epidemic of
the disease. Last winter again there were
many cases of grip, though of a mild type.
Switzerland had heavy epidemic of the
grip lasting from 1890 to 1894. and since
then the country has been remarkably
free from the disease.
In various places in Mexico the grip ap-
peared last winter. though not in an un-
usually severe form. In the City of MeXi-
so 1t was complicated most frequently
with pneumonia and in Monterey the ac-
companying aiment seemed to be neural
gla, which sometimes was diagnosed as
the grip even by the medical profession.
No cases of the grip are reported from
the department of Iloilo, in the Philip
pines, but in our other new possession,
Porto Rico. the grip in a mild form has
been prevalent this spring In San Juan
the grip appears every winter about jan
uary 1, when the northern trade winds be-
gin to blow. Yet the attack this last
spring has been unusually mild. In Ponce
last spring there was rather sharp cpl
demic and the months of March, April,
and May seem to be the season of the
greatest severity. Many of the influenza
cases end in a remittent. probably mala-
rial. fever. In Mayaguez the grip has pre-
vailed in a mild type since the end of jan
uary this year. 1t seems in this neigh
borhood as II the lack of north winds ear
ly in the year accounts for the miidness
OF the disease and the absence of compli-
cations.
A mild epidemic of the grip is reported
from st. John, Antigua. in the West In
dies. In Kingston, jamaica influenza an
peared last year for the first time in any,
thing like epidemic form. but since last
November there has been no case of the
disease.
In San Salvador about 10 per cent of
the cases of Illness are due to the grip
yet the mortality from this cause for the
last year has been sight
Way down in the South Pacific, on Nor
folk Island. severe form of the grip was
imported last September from Sydney
There were two Iulls. and at the end
Of the year the health of the island was
reported being fairly good