Influenza Precautions
Wipe Out Spit-Borne Diseases of Children
Figures based on reports to the State Board of Health show
that the precautions used against the spread of influenza almost wiped out
whooping cough, measles, diphtheria and other spit-borne diseases of children.
The Board of Health states that during June, July, August and September,
preceding the epidemic of influenza, there was an average of 2,498 cases a
month. In October, during the height of the influenza, a sudden drop in the
other diseases occurred, and from October to February 1st, the
period in which the greatest number of cases of children usually occur, there
was an average of only 848 cases a month. It is also noted that as the
influenza subsides the other diseases increase. During February there were more
than twice as many cases of whooping cough, measles, diphtheria, etc., as in
November, following the height of the influenza epidemic.
This sudden drop in the occurrence of diseases of children
was due to the fact that the fatality of influenza and the rapidity of its
spread put into the hearts of the people fear, which made them exercise
personal precaution more than ever before. They coughed and sneezed into their
own handkerchiefs and used their own towels, drinking cups, etc. Children were
kept from school when unwell and unnecessary exposure avoided. These
precautions not only retarded the development of influenza, but prevented thousands
of cases of other diseases.
We must conclude from the above that the number of cases of
the diseases of children can be materially decreased by proper precautions.
Knowing this fact, it becomes the duty of everybody to learn about the spread
of diseases and to make as great an effort to protect the children against
diseases all the time as were made during the great epidemic of influenza.
--A.A. Nichols,
Assistant Collaborating Epidemiologist
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