New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1918-12-07
HOW INFLUENZA GOT IN.

and it would seem mat 1t might
have been kept out. This is, in
fact, the editorial opinion of The
Scientific American New York,
November p, which under the
heading GA Carlessly Guarded
Gate charges that the laxity of
port authorities on our Eastern
coast is responsible for an inva-
sion that has caused more deaths
among peaceful citizens than the
deadly weapons of the enemy
have effected on the front of bat
tie. Instead of establishing a
rigid quarantine, the authorities
seem to have ignored the infec-
fious character Of the disease and
placed its victims in the open
wards of hospitals, where it quick
ly spread. This all took place in
the land of Gorgas, whose people
can tame fever-infected swamp
zone day and then calmly take
disease to their own bosoms the
next! Says the paper named
above:
"There is growing conviction
that the sudden invasion of the
United States by that European
epidemic known as Spanish influ-
enza. and the speed with which t
has spread throughout the coun-
try, are due to the laxity with
which the port authorities along
the Atlantic seaboard have car
ried out their duties.
i IF ever there was a period
when the quarantine laws for
guarding the ports of the United
States against the entrance Of dl>-
ease should have been enforced
with redoubled vigilance, it was
during the summer and autumn
of the present year, when it was
known that a highly infectious
and fatal disease was sweeping
through Europe like scourge Of
the Middle Ages. |
In view of the imminence and
deadly character of the disease,
we had every reason to expect
that the Federal authorities would
set double guard at our ports Of
entry, and instruct our quaran-
tine officials to take every posi-
bic preventive measure against
the landing. not merely of influen-
"a patients, but of every passen-
ger who had been exposed, dur
ing the ocean voyage, to infection.
Nor can any carelessness be
excused on the ground that in
6uenza has never been classed'
with the deadly diseases. such as
yellow fever or the bubonlc
plague. While such an excuse
might be valid for the layman, it
can not be allowed in the case Of
the expert professional men,
whose duty it is to enforce tina
quarantine laws of the country.
For they know full well that this
was no ordinary epidemic Of in
auenza or grip. The medical {
records of Europe were available
and the most cursory reading Of
the data that have appeared in the
medical journals Ito 60 no furth- :
ar than thatl should have revealed
TO these men that here was dis :
ease the exclusion of which from
America called for the most ex-
acting and rigid enforcement If ;
The quarantine laws. 3
"The obvious thing to have
done, when the first ship with in-l ;
Huellza patients on board cast ;
anchor at a quarantine station,
vas to isolate that ship, with ey- :
Try soul on board, until the slight 3
st possibility of carrying infec- 3
ion ashore had been removed. 4
The rigid precautions that would
oe taken, if an arriving ship had 4
vellow-fever patients aboard, 4
'hould surely have been taken in 4
he case of this deadly scourge.
But what are the facts? In 4
'redible as it may seem, influenza 4
asses By the score and, for all we 4
NOW, by the hundred, were TAX
N ashore and placed in the gen f
raj wards of the hospitals. Eel f
DIV passengers of the patients. t
rho must inevitably have been ex. il
'osed to infection, and must many n
{ them have been carrying the 3
lisease, were allowed to go their t,
everal ways throughout the land "
Was ever official fatuity p
fretehed to greater lengths than S;
his! :
When once the ships COM