The Press., 1918-10-17
Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases

in the head, eyes, ears, back or other parts of the body and a feeling of se- we're sickness. In most Of the cases the
 symptoms disappear after three or four days, the patient then rapidly recover ing. Some of the patients, however. develop pneumonia, or inflammation of the ear, or meningitis, and many of these complicated cases die. Whether this sO-called Spanish influenza Is identical with the epidsmIcs of lnauen- za of earlier years is not yet known.
 "Epidemics Of influenza have visited this country since 1647. It is interest ing to know that this first epidemic was brought here from Valencia, Spain. Since that time there have been numerous epidemics of the dis ease. In 1889 and 1890 an epidemic of influenza. starting somewhere In the Orient, spread first to Russia and
 thence over practically the entire civ IlIzed world. Three years later there was another fiare-up of the disease. Both times the epidemic spread wide ly over the United States.
 Although the present epidemic Is called Spanish influenza, there is no reason to believe that it originated in Spain. Some writers who have studied the question believe that the epidemic came from the Orient and they call at tention to the fact that the Germans mention the disease as occurring along the eastern front in the summer and fall of 1917"
 How can "spanIsh influenza" be rec oonfxed7
 There Is as yet no certain way In which a single case of Spanish infu- enza' can be recognized On the oth- CT hand, recognition Is easy where there is & group of cases. In contrast to the outbreaks of ordinary coughs and colds, which usually occur in the cold months, epidemies of influenza may occur at any season of the year Thus the present epidemic ragged most intensely in Europe in May. June and July. Moreover, in the case of OrdI- nary colds, the general symptoms (fever, pain, depression) are by no means as severe or as sudden in their onset as they are Tn influenza. Final ly, ordinary colds do not spread through the community so rapidly or % extensively as does influenza.
 'In most cases a person taken sick with influenza feels sick rather sud denly. He feels weak, has pains in the eyes, ears, head or back, and may be sore all over. Many patients feel dizzy, some vomit. Most of the pa- tients complain of feeling chilly, and with this comes a fever In which thel temperature rises to 100 to 1O4 In most cases the pulse remains 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 'bIoOdshOt,' or con gested,' as the doctors say. There may be running from the nose, or there may be some cough. These signs of a cold may not he marked never theless the patient looks and feels very sick.
 'In addition to the appearance and the symptoms as already described, examination of the patients blood may aid the physician in recognizing Span ish influenza for it has been found that In this disease the number of white COrpuscleS shows little or no in- crease above the normal It is pOssi- | ble that the laboratory investigations | now heinz made through the National J Research Council and the United States Hygienlc Laboratory will fur nish more certain way in which lndi- yidual cases of this disease can be | recognized"
 What is the course of the dlsease7 Do people die of lt2
 Ordinarily, the fever lasts from | three to four days and the patient re- covers. But while the proportion of | dc aths in the present epidemic has | generally been low. in some places the | outbreak has been severe and deaths | ,urs fl Is usually the result of a con- Dlication."
 What causes the disease and how is t spread7
 'BacteriologIsts who have studied in- iuenza epidemlcs in the past have ound in many of the cases very mall rod-shaped germ called, after it's iscOverer, Pfeiffer's bacillus. In other ases of apparently the same kind of isease there were found pneumococci, he germs of lobar pneumonia. Still