The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-10-08
What Is Spanish InfIuenzaf As It Something Newt Does It Come From Spain:

It Something Newt Does It Come
 From Spain:
 The disease now occurring in this country and called Spanish influ- enza' resembles very contagious kind of "cold" accompanied by fever pains in the head, ears, back or other parts of the body, and feeling of severe sickness. In most of the cases the symptoms disappear after three or four days, the patient then rapidly recover ir4g; some of the patients, how ever, develop pneumonia. or in- flammation of the ear, or menin- gitis, and many of these compli- cated cases die. Whether this so- called Spanish" influenza is iden- tica1 with the epidemics of influen- ga is not yet known.
 Epidemics of influenza have vis- ited this country since 1647. It is interesting to know that this first epidemic was brought here from Valencia, Spain. Since that time there have been numerous epidem- ics of the disease. Tn 1889 and 1890 an epidemic of influenza, starting SOIneWHoE6 III lIc OliSAtt spread first to Russia, and thence over practically the entire cixil- ized world. Three years later there was another flare-up of the disease Both times the epidemic spread widely over the United States.
 Although the present epidemic is called Spanish influenza" there is no reason to believe that it orig mated in Spain. Some writers who have studied the question believe that the epidemic came from the orient and they call attention to the fact that the Germans rAen- ton the disease as occurring along the eastern front in the summer and fall of 1917.
 How Can "Spanish Influenza" Be
 RecOgnizedf
 There is as yet no certain way in which a single case of Spanish in- fluenza" can be recognized; on the other 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, epidemics of influenza may occur at any season of the year; thus the present epidemic ragged most in- tensely in Europe in May. June and July. Moreover, in the case of ordinary colds the general symptoms (fever, pain, depression) are by no means as severe or as sudden in their onset as they are in influenza Finally, ordinary colds do not spread through the community so rapidly or so exten- r;x, snf
 Tn most cases a person taken sick with influenza. feels sick rather suddenly. 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 patients com plain of feeling chilly, and with this comes a fever in which the temperature rises to 100 to 104. In most cases the pulse remains relatively 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 "blood- shot" or "congested," as the doc- tors say There may be running from the nose, or there may be some cough. These signs of cold may not be marked nevertheless the patient looks and feels very sick.
 In addition to the appearance and the symptoms as already de- scribed, examination of the pa tient's blood may aid the physi- clan in recognizing Spanish in- fluenza,' for it has been found that In this disease the number of white corpuscles shows little or no increase above the normal It is possible that the laboratory Investigations now being made through the national research coun- cil and the United States hygiene laboratory will furnish more cer- tain way in which individual cases of this disease can be rec ognized
 What Is the Course of the Dis-
 ease: Do People Die of It.
 Ordinarily, the fever lasts from three to four days and the pa tient recovers. But while the proportion of deaths in the present epidemic has generally been low, Tn some places the outbreak has been severe and deaths have been numerous. When death occurs 1t is usually the result of a compli- cation.
 What Causes the Disease and How
 Is it Spread.
 Bacteriologist who have stud led influenza epidemics in the past have found in many of the cases a very small rod-shaped germ called, after it's discoverer, Pfeiffed's ba- cillus. Tn other cases of apparent ly the same kind of disease there were found pneumococci, the germ Of lobar pneumonia Still others have been caused by streptococci, ard by other germs with long names.
 No matter what particular kind of germ causes the epidemic, it is new believed that influenza is al- ways spread from person to per- son, the germs being carried with the air along with the very small droplets of mucus expelled by coughing or sneezing. forceful talking, and the like by one who already has the germs of the dis ease. They may also be carried about in the air in the form of