Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-04-03
Sciences --latest ON the Flu
London Times, March IA.

London Times, March IA.
The third wave of the influenza epidemic has
now ended. The deaths from the disease re-
corded for the 90 great towns of England and
Wales last week numbered 32lS, compared with
$3.50 the previous week. In London the deaths
numbered S97, as against 80S. What is more
it has ended to date The mysterious period
lefty which the mysterious disease seems to
have established for itself has been maintained,
This perodicity is roughly ~ weeks. The
first wave began in July and died down about
the end OF Augusta two months course.
Twelve weeks after the beginning of the first
wave-at the beginning of October--the second
middle of December Again, u weeks after the
beginning of the second wave, l. e., in January,
the third wave appeared 1t had begun to spend
itself in the first days of March.
Meanwhile the evidence that the causative
organism of the epidemic is the filter-passing
germ described by the late Major Graeme Glib
son and also by Captain Wilson accumulates.
1t is very strong body of evidence, and to a
great extent satisfies the requirements of proof
laid down by Koch. That is to say, the germ
can be recovered from patients affected by the
disease; it can be cultivated outside the body;
it can, when inoculated into animals, reproduce
the phenomena of the disease; and it can be
recovered again from the inocuated animals,
and again grown.
1t is just the failure to understand the neces-
sity OF proof OF this sort which has led SO many
these last weeks. This is, perhaps, especially
true of the much debated Pfeiffers bacillus,
which was originally discovered in the eighties,
and has been discussed hundred times since
The bacillus is one of the many which are very
commonly present in the human nasopharynx
(Other bacilli very frequently found in healthy
threats and noses are the pneumonia bacillus.
the streptococcus and the staphylococcus) This
by no means establishes the Pfeffer bacillus as
the cause of disease Were such an argument
of things which might be suspected in the same
connection, e.. g., badness soft corns-all of
which occur frequently in persons suffering
from influence. We should be back again in
the dark ages.
We do not think that it has been established
or the Pfetter bacillus or any other bacillus or
coccus, except the one mentioned above that it
will produce influenza when inoculated into
animals, or that it can be recovered from these
animals after infection
In the absence of proof of this kind, the state
ment that the bacillus is present in the Threats
of all influenza patients does not carry us much
farther. 1t is in all probability. So are other
bacilli. Admittedly these residents" may and
do afaict severe illness once the resistance
which normally holds them at bay is broken
down. 1t is exceedingly improbable that they
themselves are the agents which initiate the at
tack
This is the reason why vaccination against
influenza is not generally advised. You cannot
vaccnate against disease the exact cause of
which is in doubt (though now that Ma or
Graeme Gibson's discovery has been announced,
vaccine Of new kind may possibly be avail
able soon) The best use that can be made of
vaccination at present is to inoculate against the
residents" the germs which lie constantly in
wait for their host, and visit pneumonia and
w he
And there are, as has been pointed out before in
these columns, objections even to this course
Many announcements of "cures" of the dis
ease have been made. The public should real
ze that probably upwards of 80 per cent of all
cases of uncomplicated influenza in this cpl
demic have got we'll by themselves-when
pneumonia has supervened it has, of course,
been different story. 1t is easy to see that
individual treating limited number of cases in
or drug, might easily have recoveries in 100
per cent of his patients. He would ascribe this
good result to his drug or serum. In point of
fact his patients would have recovered in any
case.
Rigid control of every new method is es-
sentlal before it can be accepted otherwise vast
disappointment must result That means pitting
large number of treated cases against equal
number of untreated cases or cases treated by
other methods Only then conclusions
worth taking ABOUT De drawn. Psychologists
and Others who publish statements of results
without having sufficiently controlled their work
do no good service to science or to humanity.
A standardized vaccine is now available
against the pneumonia complications, and the
first authentic statistics are hopefu-no more.
Sera "a serum differs from vaccine. 1t is an
antidote; vaccine if hair of the tail of the
dog that bit you" or is likely to bite YOU of all
sorts have been tried during the pneumonia
attacks Good and bad results spoken of,
but perhaps on the whole the good outweigh the
bad, especially as regards antidipthera serum,
which does seem to exercise some beneficial eff
feet in early cases.