French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1918-10-17
SPANISH INFLUENZA, ORIGIN,
SYMPTOMS, NATURE, CAUSES,
TREATMENT COURSE, RESULTS.

TREATMENT COURSE, RESULTS.
fBy United States Public Health Ser
vice. Robert Blue, Sugeon GeneraD.
What is Spanish Infuenza2 Is It
something new? Does it come from
Spain?
The disease now occurring in this
country and called Spanish Infiuen-
"a" resembles a very contagious kind
of "cold" accompanied by fever, pains
in the head, eyes, back and other
parts of the body, and a feeling OF Sc
we're sickness. In most of the cases
the symptoms disappear after three or
four days, the patient then rapidly re-
covering; some of the patients, how
ever, develop pneumonia, or imam
nation of the ear, DR. meningitis, and,
many of these complicated cases die.
whether this so-called Spanish" In
f1uenza is identical with the epidem1cs
of influenza of earlier years is not yet
known.
Epidemics of influenza have visited
this county since 1647. 1t is interest
ing to know that the first epidemic was
brought here from Valencia, Spaln'
Since that time there have been num-
erous epidemics of the disease. In
1889 and 1890 an epidemic OF
"a, starting somewhere in the ORIENT
spread first to Russia and thence over
practically the entire civilized world.
Three years later there was another
f1are-up of the disease. Both times the
epidemic spread widely over the Unit
ed States.
Although the present epidemic is
called Spanish influenza" there is no
a to believe that it originated In
Spain. Some writer's who have stud
led the question believe the epidemic
came from the Orient and they call at
tention to the fact that the Germans
mention the disease as securing along
the eastern front in the summer and
fall of 1917.
How Can Spanish influenza" be Rec
Ognized
There is yet no certain 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 Oc-
cur 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 ordinary colds
the general symptoms, (fever, pain
depression), are by no as sew
ere or as sudden in their onset as they
are in influenza. Finally, ordinary
colds do not spread through the COM
munity so rapidly or so 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 dir
Zy, some vomit. Most of the patients
complain of feeling chilly, and with
this comes a fever in which the tenn
perature rises to 100 to 1O4. In most
cases the pulse remains relatively low.
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 "bloodshot," or "con-
igested," as the doctors say. There
may be running from the nose, or
there may be some cough. These
signs of a cold may not be marked;
nevertheless the patient looks and
feels very sick,
d. 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 or
white corpuscles shows little or no in
crease above normal. 1t is possible
that the laboratory Investigations now
being made through the National Re-
search Council and the United States
Hygenic Laboratory will furnish a
more certain way in which individual
cases of this disease can be recogniz-
ed.
Do People Die Of 1t?
What is the Course of the Diseases
Ordinarily, the fever lasts from
three to four days and the patient re-
covers. But while the proportion of
deaths in the present epidemic has
generally been low, in ONE places
the outbreak has been severe anG