Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-20
Influenza Mystery
By Frederic J. Haskin.


on record an act Of self-sacriGcinR berosn
by about one hundred naval volunteers
hns just been completed bv officers o
the United States Public Health Scryic,
cooperating with medical officers of Tia,
United States Navy at Boston and gar
Francisco.
As nearly everyone knows. scientist,
all over the world IN combating IN,
spread Of influenza which is still going on
have proceeded on the assumption that
| il is transmitted chiefly by coughing
and splitting. The theory has been that
| the diseased mucus thrown out by these
acts is filed with the germs of influenza,
which thus find lodgrncnt IN healthy
tissue All the experiments heretofore
made seem to Indicate strongly that
| influenza Is transmitted m this way.
| and il is we'll accepted that most other
respiratory diseases arc so carried
| This latest experiment consisted ia
| submitting the hundred men who volun-
tcered for The purpose to every possible
| method of Infection with influenza germs
through the nose and throat These
men riskpd their lives for the general
good and for tho advancement of scicnce.
They went through 4 eInguaTly trying
and rcpulsive ordeal They, md every
one else, believed that they wcre being
inoculatcd with the dread disease which
is destroying millions Of lives all over the
world Their hcroism IS fully equal 10
that displayed some years ago by the
men oe the Army Medical Corps who ex-
posed Themselves in Cuba 10 the bites of
mosquitoes IN order to determine finally
whether yellow fever vas transmitted by
that insect The onlr difference m the
two experiments was in the result. Some
of the officers who exposed themselves ~
the bite of the mosquito contracted ycl-
low fever, and one of them died, thereby
establishing the soundncss Of Their theory.
The volnpteers who submitted themselves
to inocuation with the germs of influenza
were fully expected to take the disease,
and were prepared to die But not ono Of
them developed any symptoms Of IN
ilnenza
This astonishing negative result, which
IS the sensation Of the dav IN scientific
circles, should not tempt anyone 10 be
careless IN the matter of coughing and
splitting or IN exposing himself 70 infection
by those acts A. officials % the Public
Health Service point ont, II may he that
the germs Oi the disease disappear IS soon
qs. or immediately after he symptoms
appear. Something like this Is t-ue Of
other diseases In measles for example,
II has hccn found that The germs which
cause the disease are III gone within five
or SIX days after the appearance Of the
rash. and the case Is no longer contagious
The discovery III this fact, which was made
by anderson and C,oldberger, of the Public
Health Service only few years ago, has
led T. shortening the quaFan tine PERIOD
for measles b. more than half
Dtrrfctrf.T pR0pfpg
These new experiments in the trans
mission of influenza SAID ~uTgeon-Gen-
eral Blue. show how difficult is the
influenza problem They by M means
indicate that W ran afford to disregard
coughing. -neezIng and splitting as com
mon means oi spreading disease, and even
IN the case of In1uenza this source Of in
fection should alpavs be borne in mind
believe however. that We have not paid
sufficient attention to other paths If
Infection. especially ~ The lips. mouth
and hands The f..ct that the disease
yas much less common in army camps
where tho sterilization Of al eating
utensils aud dishes was rigIdly enforced |
shows the IMPORTANCE of the mouth as
an avenue of injection.
Their can bc NJ doUl,t but that these
experiments a. Boston and san FRAN /
CISCO were carried otIt with the utmost |
thoroughne>s. Lleut.-C commander Ro- /
senau OF The Navy Medical Corps and /.
Surgeon joseph Goldbcrgcr Of the Public /
Health Scrvios were tho officers IN charge I
II the Boston experiment, whieh was /
made at the Quarantine station on CralloD /
sltnd toTty-Sepcn men Were the sub I
ects of tins part Of the experiment. All +
II them had been more or les exposed 10 T
he disease and 50 OF them had never had /
ny bronchial disease This means that !
ome OF them may have neen naturally I
immune to Influenza. but 1t Is not at All
,robsbIe that All Of them were.
The first experiment consisted N
thoroughly injecting the noses Of about
en- OF he men with cultures Of Pfeltfer
influenza bacillus 4 virulen. germ COM
monty found IN Infh.enza. None OF the |
men developed any symptoms. The next
orm OF the experiment WAS to take the
cefetlons from the noses and threats II
lfiucaza patients and place them III the
oseS and throatS OF the volunteers by
means OF sWabs and sprays. The time
occupied III removing tie diseased mucuS
rom sick man and putting It INTO the
oSe or threat of a we'll man was reduced
o as little as thirty seconds Yet none
tie men 50 injected developed any
,nptoms of the disease
INTERESTING ENrERINENTs.
Determined that the tests should be
<haustve, ,hc doc,orS next submitted Il |
roup of volunteers to infection by actual
1ughlng and splitting For tins purpose |
N volunteers were selected and ten bed
atieits who had recently come down with
we're attacks Of Influenza Each Of
le volunteers leaned over the bed Of
tch 81 the ten sick men, conversed with
IN for lew minutes and allowed the
ltIent to cough directly IN his face, 50
lat there should be no doubt of 4 trans
ission of diseased tissue Each volun-
er was thus exposed to ten different eases
influenza, and was IN close proximity
it'll them for not less than three-quarters
an hour. Yet not one OF ghese voum-
ers developed any symptom OF influenza !
The experiments III san Francisco !
hich were carried out under the direc- !
III Of Surgeon e. ". Mccoy Of the
lbhc Health Service and Lieut. De | !
ayne Richey If the United States Navy !
the Angel Island quarantine station. | {
re very similar IN method and in result
le men who volunteered ioT these eN-
rimcnts had been vaccinated with !
cllfers influenza bacill and pneumonia
rms. IT. as European reports would
tleatc, influenza Is caused by an ultra :
lcroscoplc germ, such vaccination would
without protection to those So vac
latCd None of these men he'd been