Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1919-01-02
DOCTORS DISAGREE
ON INFLUENZA ISSUE
Public Health Officials ssof
United States and Canada,
Meeting in Chicago, Fail
to Reach Definite Con
cIusions on Malady.

i Chicago, Ill.-Lack OF agreement
! n methods OF meeting the social
ad infiu MA epidemic and Iack Vi
! knowledge Of the malady itself con.
tinued to be prominently noticeable
right up to the very conclusion Ol
/ the four-day convention OF public
1 health officials of the Unit=d STATES
/ and Canada which ended her, on
Thursday. The influenza has b. Z
the great overshadoBing problem OF
F.! this gathering of the American Pub
(! lie Health Association.
! Arriving at a d. cision by a vote
was generally avoided by the health
officials, but in round-table con
ference they did cast an informal bal
lot on the question Of closing the
schools. The question as put was
this:
'In the big cities, providing there
is good medical inspection, would
you close the schools in an influ-
ienza epidemic" On the showing Of
hands only few went up for clos
ing, while a great many went up
against the proposition The health
officers present were plainly against
closing in such cases. Then the chair
man put the question Of closing the
schools in big cities where the medi-
cal inspection was not considered
good. He declared the vote seem
I'd to be about even" Finally the
question of >closing the rural schools
was voted on. Here again the chair
man announced it was .tan offset al
So" The chairman of this round Ia
bic meeting, DR.. H. w. Hill of Mime
apolis, president of the Minnesota
State Public Health Department, ex-
pressed his own view of the situa-
tion in the following language:
THE consensus of opinion / have
met with here and elsewhere is that
the advisability of closing the schools
for the influenza does not exist
The question-box brought out many
of handling the influenza. The gath
ering dismissed the question Of the
use of alcoholic liquors on the ground
that it related to treatment instead
of prevention, and SO was beyond the
scope of the association. The chair,
however, observed, prior to the rails
ing of this point, that the general
was that alcohol was bad
at any time in influenza treatment.
Relative to the use of the face
mask, doctor from the Cook Coun-
ty (Chicago) Hospital declared that.
it seemed to him that the medical
faculty had lost all control of its
reason. "If this influenza organism
is SO small,i he added. 'tas some
claim it is, that you cannot SEE itf
with a microscope, l cannot sse why
it cannot go through any mask. 1t.
would be like expecting the bars in
the Jail windows to keep out the
flies
The physician went on to say that
every one in the county hospital was
masked at the beginning, not because
they particularly regarded masking
as good, but to ''ayoid the possible
charge of gross ignorance" They
were all MASKED so heavily they
were all masked so heavily they
looked like mummies," he said, add
ing that Is nurses and attendants hat
the influenza and then they dis
carded their masks and had none of
it. 81 think this matter of the face
mask has been very much oyerdone. Il
said the doctor.
In the morning session a vigorous
protest against the use of the face
masks was made by DR.. James W.
Inches, health commissioner of De-
troit, Michigan. He said they werc
pure fakes as a means of halting
influenza and declared that the clos
ing of motion picture theaters, chur-
ches, etc, had not proved to be cfl
b efit.- The Christian Science
Monitor.