The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1942-01-27


not severe enough to be called
bronchial pneumonia. These are
usually labeled influenza.
Although more severe than the
common cold, they are not really
very serious, nothing like as bad
as the terrible epidemic of real
influenza that occurred during the
war years, 1918 and 1919. Having
seen what the malignant type of
influenza is, | have been a little
10th to agree that the yearly cpl
denies we have been having were
really influenza.
psychologists say that there
are two types of influenza, one
mild and one severe. and that we
have been having the mild type.
Real influenza has a history Of
having hit the world in great
pandemics or waves. There was
one about 1910, one in 1889, fol-
lowed by the one in 1918. They are
usually about forty years apart.
Causative Organism
remember after the pandemic
Of 1889 that for years doctors
would call mild cases of respira-
tory infection Influenza" Having
lived through the severe pandemic,
they remembered it wildly and
probably got into the habit of call
ing any respiratory infection that
was a little worse than a cold,
influenza. ! feel that the same
thing has happened in the cpl
denies following the severe pande-
mic Of 1918, and consequently l
have not a great deal Of faith in
the reports that have come out
about finding the causative organ
ism of influenza.
For what it is worth however,
the present idea is that influenza
5 due to filterable virus. Curious
ly enough, the only animal which
pas been found which will become
infected is the ferret. Mouth and
nose washings from patients with
influenza inoculated into the nose
Of ferret will produce the disease
in this animal.
Mrs. Carlyle, who was a woman
Of great common sense, expressed
my sentiments pretty well. She
had been subject to a number of
attacks which her physician dag
nosed as influenza. She wrote in a
letter: Medical men all over the
world have merely entered into a
tacit agreement to call all sorts
Of maladies people are subject to
by one name so that one sort Of
treatment may serve for all, and
their practice is thereby greatly
simplified."
Opinions Of Psychologists
must say that the best bacteri-
ologists in the world do not agree
with me. They say that at the pres
ent time doubt as to the cause of
the disease can no longer exist and
diagnosis by recovering the organ
ISM by meteorological methods is
now possible. 1t does not make a
great deal of difference in the long
run, because whether or not they
have found the causative organ
ism, they have not perfected any
serum which is valuable in treat
ment, nor is chemical treatment
by the sulfonamide group of drugs
reported TO be valuable in inhu-
enza.
The latest reports on treatment
that | have seen in the medical
journals of 1871 state that treat
ment consists in bed rest, protec-
ton from changes of temperature
and drafts, a large fluid intake,
and relief of aching symptoms by
aspirin end codeine.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Mrs. D. B.:-"Will you please
.ettle an argument between my
husband and me. He contends that
,arrots are good for the eyes.
,ay no food has any direct bear
ng on the eyes"
Answer: Carrots contain caro-
enc which is the food from which
sitamin A is manufactured in the
>ody. Vitamin A is the vitamin
which affects certain structures in
ne retina Of the eyes and pre-
'ents night blindness. Therefore
will reluctantly have to side
Nth your husband in this con-
Toversy.