The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1918-10-17

Spanish influenza may be realized by
the stringent actions adopted in Port
land and from the following letter re
ceived by Health Officer Edgingt0n
from Acting State Health Officer Rob
ert f. l.. Holt
'By order Of the SUI geon general of
the United States public health ser
vice. YOU are directed in case of the
appearance of an outbreak of influenza
IN your community to discontinue all
public meetings and close all schools
and places of public amusement. Re
port Immediately any cases occurring.
For your information the following
telegram has been received from the
surgeon general
" Public Health Service Will mobil
ize with the aid of volunteer medical
service corps all outside medical aid
required in combating the present in
tiuenza epidemic. The American Red
Cross upon specific request from this
service will mobilize nursing personnel
and furnish necessary emergency hos
pital supplies which cannot be obtained
otherwise. Inform all city and county
health officers in your state that all
appeals for aid must be made to the
state board of health, which will make
request of the surgeon general Of the
public health service whenever local
needs require. Whenever necessary
public health service will establish
district officers to cooperate with the
with state officials and distribute on
medical and nursing service.
The following bulletin issued through
/ the Red Cross by Surgeon General
Blue, of the United States army, deals
comprehensively with the "hu'
The disease now occurring in this
country and called Spanish influenza
resembles very contagious kind Of
cold accompanied by fever pains in the
head, eyes, ears back or other parts of
/ the body, and feeling of severe sick.
ness In most of the cases the symp.
toms disappear after three or -four
days, the patient than rapidly recover
ing some of the patients, however
develop pneumonia or inflammation OF
the ear, or meningitis, and many Of
these complicated eases die. Whether
this so-caIled Spanish influenza i,
identical with the epidemics of influ
enza Of earlier years is not vet known
Epidemics of influenza have visitet
this country since l647. 1t is interest
ing to know that this first epidemi,
was brought here from Valencia
Spain Since that time there have
been numerous epidemics of the dis
ease. In 1899 and 1890 an epidemic Of
influenza, starting somewhere in The
ORIENT, spread first to Russia anC
thence over practically the entire civ
lied world. Three years later there
was another flareup of the disease
Both times the epidemic spread widely
over the United States.
Although the present epidemic il
called Spanish influenza, there is NJ
reason to believe that it originated il
SPAN. Some writers who have studied
the question believe that the epideml,
came from the Orient and they call at
tention to the fact that the Germans
mention the disease as occurring alonl
the eastern front in the summer anC
fall Of 1917
There is AS yet no certain way il
which single case Of Spanish infu
enza can be recognized on the othe
hand, recognition is easy where ther,
is group of cases. In contrast to thu
outbreaks Of ordinary colds, whicl
usually occur in cold months, epidemic
of influenza may occur at any seasol
of the year, thus the present epidemi
ragged most intensiYely in Europe il
May, June and July. Moreover, IN thu
case of ordinary colds the genera
symptoms, fever, pain, depression, ar,
by no means as severe or as sudden il
their onset as they are in influenza
Finally, ordinary colds do not sprea
through the community so rapidly o
SO extensively as does influenza.
In most cases a person taken sici
with influenza feels sick rather sud
denly. He feels weak has pains in tn
eyes, ears head or back, and may b
sore all over. Many patients feel diz
zy. Some vomit. Most OF the patient
complain of feeling chilly and wit
this comes fever in which the TEN
perature rises to 100 to l04. In mos
cases the pulse remains relativel
slow.
In appearance one is struck by tn
fact that the patient looks sick. Hi
eyes and the inner side of his eyelid
may be slightly blood shot, or congest
ed, as the doctors say. There may b
running from the nose, or there ma
be some cough. These signs of coli
may not be marked; nevertheless tn
patient looks and feels sick.
In addition to the appearance and tn
symptoms as already described, exam
nation Of the atlent's blood may al
the phys clan in recognizing SPANS
influenza. for it has been found that i
this disease the number of white cor
puscles shows little or no increas
above the normal 1t is possible tina
the laboratory Investigations now be
ing made through the National Re
search Council and the United State
Hyglenlc Laboratory will furnish
more certain way in which individuS
cases Of this disease can be recognized
Ordinarily, the fever lasts from thre
to four days and the patient recOVers
But while the proportion of deaths i
the present epidemic has general
been low, in some places the outbrea
has been severe and deaths have bee
numerous. When death occurs it
usually the result Of a complication.
Bacterioogists who have studied il
tiuenza epldemlcs IN the past hav
= found in many of the cases yer
small rod shaped germ called, after il
discoverer Pfeiffer' bacillus. In othe
cases of apparently the same kind o
disease there were found pneumococc
! the germs Of lobar pneumonia. St
: others have been caused by streptt
cocci, and by other germs with Ion