Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-14
PLAGUE OF INFLUENZA
Fatal to Many and Paves Way
for Other Diseases.
1000 DEATHS IN ONE YEAR
Epidemic Spread From Asia to Ali
Parts of World.
EIGHT KINDS OF GRIPPE
How the Body is Made Vulnerable to
Pneumonia and tuberculosis
Regarded Too Lightly.


to contract soon or late. There is only one
way, indeed. to avoid it. and that way con-
sists of locking yourself in an alright
casson somewhere in the vicinity of the
north pole where no other human being
has ever breathed the air Everywhere else
on earth the influenza germ is sure to get
you. In the last ten years every man and
woman in the United States has suffered
from its diabolic activity.
Influenza spreads and RACES like plague
of old. 1t is infectious and contagious and
1t works quickly. Three or four days after
its bacilli invade your air passages you are
in bed and there, if you are wise, you will
remain at least a week. When the disease
strikes community few, none, escape.
Experience shows that in America an cpl
demic always means the disabling illness
of at least 40 per cent of the population.
In many cities the sick list rises to 60 or
Is per cent. In a few it has got within
short distance of 100 per cent.
Demands Serious Attention.
Just because it is so common Americans
have fallen into the error of regarding in
fluenZa lightly. By the average layman,
in fact, it is looked upon merely as a sort of
exaggerated and persistent cold. But be-
tween an ordinary cold and la grippe a
great gulf is fixed. The one is a local
malady and as a rule it cures itself within
a few days. The other, to borrow disused
term, is a zymotic disease. In 1904 it killed
1900 Americans directly and probably 20,-
600 indirectly. Therefore it is apparent
that influenza demands serious considera-
ton
Before the great epidemic of 1889 medical
men had very little definite knowledge of
the cause and nature of la grippe. The
disease had been epidemic from time to
ar HI a G
seemed, in comparison to other plaques,
to be very slight thing no heed was paid
to 1t. But when in 1889 1t invaded Europe
by way of Russia and then spread to all
parts of the earth psychologists and
pathologists in a dozen countries began
giving it close attention.
The result was The discovery of the
minute organism which produces the NAL
ady. This discovery was made stimuli
taneously by Pfeiffer, a German, and Kitas-
alto, japanese, and since then the germ
has borne the name of Pfeiffer's bacillus
1t is one of the gay notes that dance along
a sunbeam. Under the microscope it ap-
pears as a tiny thin rod, usually straight
and with somewhat rounded ends. 1t null
tiplies with thousand times the rapidity
of rabbit. Introduce half a dozen in
fuenza germs into your bronchi today, and
a week hence your body will be the abiding
place of 100 coo, 0OO, 900.
When man has la grippe his air passages
are fairly alive with baclli, and every time
expels millions of them. Thus they get
into the air, and other persons in the same
house breathe them into their lungs and get
the disease, too. When an epidemic is in
progress in a large city the air of street
cars and other places of public assemblage
Is heavy with the baclli. In brief, it is next
to impossible to avoid absorbing them and
so every one, or practically every one, has
mild or severe attack Of la grippe.
Some Of the Symptoms.
When they enter the body through the
nose or mouth the germs ordinarily take
up lodgment in the intermediate air pas
sages. There they multiply rapidly and
begin to send forth their poisons. These
poisons coursing through the blood incom-
mode and cripple all the bodily organs
The result is that one feels. tired and stupid,
that ones temperature rises and that pains
and aches appear in all directions A man
with la grippe, indeed, is a man poisoned
and sometimes the poison in his veins kills
him.
When the big epidemic of 1889 first struck
the United States the symptoms of the dis
ease were much like those of a very severe
cold in the head, but in subsequent wears
new types appeared, and today a great
many varieties of influenza are recognized
Several years ago the nervous type was
uppermost and there were a number of re-
ports of insanity due to the disease An
at still another time influenza approaches
the border lines of pneumonia and acute
gastritis. 1t is in fact decidedly portean
malady, and for that reason it is probably
planned sometimes for crimes that should
be charged up against some other disease.
The eight more common forms of inf1u
enza may be described roughly as follows.
!. The cold in the head type produces
and stubborn cold, but the prostration is
greater and there are severe pains in the
limbs and back. This is a very familiar
form OF influenza and one authority SAYS
United States has suffered from it.
2. The bronchitis type produces effects
much like those of an ordinary attack of
bronchitis, with severe racking coughs and
iairly nigh fever This variety Of the dis
ease In itself is not very dangerous. but 1t
has deadly tendency to pave the way for
pneumonia and tuberculosis
.. The typhoid type is frequently mis-
taken for sO-called mild attack Of
typhoid fever. The fever usually Subsidies
within week and complete recovery fol-
lows soon afterward. In genuine typhoid
the period of Illness is much longer and the
condition of the patient very naturally is
far more grave, but all the same the two
are frequently confused
4. The pleurisy type is characterized by
pains in the chest and stomach, in addition
to the ordinary symptoms. It is caused nv
the germs lodging in the pleura-the mem
brane which incloses the lungs, This tvn.
of influenza, while not very dangerous in
itself. is apt to cause serious complications.
The Pneumonia Type.
8. The pneumonia type. In this the ma
tent suffers from a real pneumonia. with
the difference that while in the common
form of pneumonia the disturbances In the
lungs are caused by a germ called the
pneumococcus, the disturbing factor of in
fluenza- pneumonia is Pfeiffers bacillus. Tn.
asmuch as pneumonia of any sort is a dan
gerous and intractable maIady, this form of
la grippe is much to be dreaded.
8. The rheumatic type Is characterized nv
the symptoms of rheumatic fever-a hieh
temperature, swollen, painful Joints and
general functional disturbances The wrist.
knee, elbow and shoulder are the Joints
most commonly affected This form of the
malady Is caused by an invasion Of the
joints by the influenza germ.
L The nervous tyne ia q very severe one