American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-10-11
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SPANISH
L. $. Surgeon General, Rupert Blue,
Mixes Valuable Suggestions About
Care of Victims and Precautions to
Prevent Spread of Diseast

Prevent Spread of Diseast
The United States Public Health
Service has issued the following bull
letin by Robert Blue, Surgeon General
IN Spanish influenza. 1t is very timely
and at the request of the Idaho State
Board of Health, it is herewith re-
printed almost in full:
What is Spanish influenza?
Is it something new?
Does it come from Spain?
The disease now occurring in this
country and called Spanish Influ-
enza" resembles a very contagious
kind of cold" accompanied by fever,
pains in the head, ears, eyes, back or
other parts of the body, and a feeling
Of severe sickness. In most of the cases
the symptoms disappear after three
or four days, the patient then rapidly
recovering. Some of the patients,
however, develop pneumonia, or in
Illumination of the ear or meningitis,
and many of these complicated cases
die. Whether this so-called Spanish
influenza is identical with the cpl
denies of influenza of earlier years is
not yet known.
Although the present epidemic is
called Spanish Influenza" there is
no reason to believe that It origina-
ted in Spain. Some writers who have
studied the question believe that the
epidemic originated in the Orient. and
they call attention to the fact that
the Germans mentioned the disease
as occurring along the eastern front
in the summer and fall of 1917.
How can spanish Influenza" be
recognized
There is yet no way in which a
single case of Spanish influenza 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 ragged most fu-
riousy in Europe in May. June and
July. Moreover. in the case of ordi-
nary colds the general symptoms, fe-
yer, pain and depression, are by no
means as severe or as sudden in their
onset as they are in influenza. Fl
nally. ordinary colds do not spread
through the community so rapidly or
so extensively as does influenza.
In most cases a person taken sick
with influenza, feels sick rather sud
denly. He feels week, has pains in
the eyes. ears, head or back. and may
be sore all over. Many patients feel
dizzy, SOM vomit. Most of the pa
tents complain of feeling chilly. and
with this a fever which rises
to 100 to 1O4. In most cases the pulse
remains rather slow.
In appearance one is struck with
the fact that the patient looks sick
His eyes and the inner side of his eye
lids may be slightly bloodshot. There
may be running from the nose. or
there may be some cough. These in
6ications of a cold may not be very
marked; nevertheless the patient
looks and feels very sick.
What is the course OF the diseased
Do people die of it,
Ordinarily the fever lasts from
three to four days and the patient
RECEIVERS. But while the proportion Of
deaths in the present epidemic has
been generally low, in some places the
outbreak has been severe and deaths
have been numerous. When death oc-
ours it is usually the result Of q COM
plication.
What causes the disease and how
is il spreadi
Psychologists who have studied
influenza epidemics in the past have
found in many cases a very small
rod-shaped germ called Pfeiffer's ba-
cillus. In other cases other kinds of
germs were found.
No matter what particular kind of
germ causes the epidemic. it is now
believed that influenza is always
spread from person to person, the
germs being carried with the air along
with the very small drople.s of mu-
Gus. expelled by coughing or snees-
ing, forceful talking, and the like by
one who already has the germs of the
disease. They may also be carried
about in the air in the form of dust
coming from dried mucus, from cough
ing or sneezing, or from careless peo-
pie who spit on the sidewalk. AS in
most other catching diseases, a per
on who has only a mild attack Of the