INFLUENZA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXL, Issue 6164, 9 January 1904, Page 8

INFLUENZA

(By Robert Watson, M.D.)

Quite a number of folks bt-iicVc that influciiza, or .Lα Wrippe, as some prder to call it, wut> unknown prior to tiuu terrible time in wiien the so-ca;le-a •■Ruosiau" e-p-deame overran Europe But influenza can bo ddiniwiiy uack to tiie niieenth ccuiui^ —wiucii ii uui'c. than can tw isaid iur most ol vs —and a host of remarkable ep.domics have bien recorued. (Since 'By, tiite country luus never managed to snake itself free from the disease. Like other infectious complaints, influenza, is the work ot germs, xiia actual mioroba was iiunted dawn and labehed eleven years ago. A rod-like atom, it occurs in ■.lie mucus expectorated from the. tubes or blown from tue no*>e; but, it being one ot tlie smallest of lnicrobas, if not actually the emahtet, a microscope of High power is necessary to view it. Its mere presence_ m tiie body prtdicpoees towards the settling there, of other microbes —a fact that explains the tendency to complication in this trouble. While fivsh air is the enemy of most germs, it has not omy no terrors for the iniiuenza germ, but id used by thai microbe as a means of transit. Tliax. it has tackled the problem of aerial navigation more successfully than either Santos Uumont or Stanley Spencer seems proved by the ease with wnicu it visits town after town, country after country, crossing wide oceans in us tour of mischief. Because, the germs have stayed with an individual once, ne need not consider himself insured against subsequent visitations, 'the protection soon wears out. The microbes enter by the air-passages, and, once within the body, multiply so rapidly that in four days or less they have set up shop on a .scale sufficiently large to provide enough poison for a complete influenza attack. .Symptoms have even been known to appear in a couple of hours after exposure to infection. While many diseases play, cat-like, witn their victims, putting them into an uneasy, not-well-but-hardly-iil condition for days before they do their worst, influenza is kinder and is accustomed to strike ai once. The patient feels icy cold, shivers chase one another up and down his back, though his skin is hot to the touch and tlie thermometer .shows a high temperature. 'Head, especially just above and behind the eyes, back, arms, legs—all ache as if they had been bruised. The eyes feel hot and heavy, and the nose runs. Often the throat is sore. No characteristic rash appears. A thick fur covers the tongue, and the moutii feels dirty The whole condition is one of helpless, hopeless misery, the sufferer knowing his is far too serious a malady to be merely influenza; feeling, indeed, in many instances thai he can never recover. Different forms of influenza are recognised by medical men, according as special symptoms appear and indicate more serious involvement of chest, or bowels, or nervous system. 'Each of these varieties may closely imitate diseases peculiar to the regions concerned. Thus influenza .when it attacks the chest may stimulate a severe bronchitis; attacking, the stomach and bowels, it may make the medical man chary about saying wH&ther the disease is typhoid fever or influenza, and anxious rather to put off the day of decision until symptoms appear that belong undoubtedly to one disease or the other; attacking the nervous system, it may suggest the oneet of brain fever, or even, in certain cases, oe hardly distinguished.from "a stroke." Probably no other disease-poison-—or ■toxin—so speedily does serious damage to the nervous system. Typhoid fever leaves a man in a, condition of intellectual debility that ie long in passing, but takes weeks to achieve this result. Influenza rob& him, of mental vigor in a few days ; will, memory, imagination, and reasoning powers all suffer. There is utter nervous prostration, and for weeks the individual and his acquaintances have real cause to declare him "not the man he was." . , Though in some cases the toxin produces a tendency to heart failure, the dißea.se as not in itself a very fatal one as a rule, lo th* fact that, influenza opens the door ior other troubles must be attributed ■ tne high mortality that has made the name of this disease so feared, -While La Grippe holds, complications, like pneumonia, heart and kidneys disease, occur with greab readiness ; and even when tne illness has quite passed, as far as its own manifestations are concerned, the system is prone to develop various diseases. A significant proportion of the sad tales doctors hear commence with the stereotyped phrase, "I've never really been well since I had the influenza.' Consumption is specially liable to follow in the wake of this disease. The treatment of a serious case oi influenza necessitates the use of drugs that cannot with safety be handled by any but medical men; drugs which are dangerous in thesnselve6, bub whose dangers are increased by the conditions present in influenza; drugs whcee assistance, despite the risks, renders them invaluable, indispensable; drugs like salicylate of soda, antipyrin, digitalis, nux vomica, to name only a few. Bub the enthusiasts oi the household need not be cast down. There is aid other than drug aid bo be offered. The feeding of the patient provides ample scope for energy, which may display itself by cunningly devising dainties to tempt the appetite —in this disease more than ordinarily capricious. And there are no hard and fast lines to limit the cook, who may range over the whole field of invalid foods, provided only that slops alone are given for the fir&t few days, until the temperature falls; but even tliat [ word "slops" holds a world of meaning for the capable. Why, on meat-tea alone am artist can play variations by the half-dozen: beef-tea, mutton-tea, veal-tea, and chicken- | tea, simple; then novel flavors achieved by the mixing of thsse in many ways, or by using mixed meats in the preparation of the tea; then fresh effects produced by iu'roducing into the jar a vegetable or herb to which the patient is partial; then the addition of various seasonings or oatmealwater. . . . ! Truly -the- possibilities are numerous, and yet this is but one' section of the diet permitted. The older a patient is, the more carefully must he adhere to doctor's orders —and no patient is young enough to despise either j the disease or the means taken to ward off complications. Influenza is decidedly not a disease to be fought standing. The man who resolves to beat it off has generally to surrender in the end, and wins nothing, but risks much, by his—courage or foolhardiness, wliat you pltasc. An early, graceful submission pays beet. The disease does less damage. Complication are not so liable to set- in,. In view of the deadly troubles that follow in its train, every effort should be taken to ensure the compl&test- convalescence possible. There should be no undue anxiety to get back into harness; before he returns to business the patient, unless he happens to belong to the Weary Willies of the race, ought to feel that he waats to work, not simply that he must work because he has ibeen so long away. Where it can be had, a change of air and scene does great things for the shaken nervous system. Cod liver oil helps, too. If cough continues week after week, if blood appears in the spit, if the individual awakens early in the morning to find the body damp with sweat, if there be- loss of flesh—then it is high time to be thoroughly examined by a medical man." In the matter of preventing influenza, cases should be isolated, disinfection attended to, and, while physical culture in its wide sense hardens the system, an occasional drop of eucalyptus oil on the handkerchief ie, during an epidemic—well, not to be sneezed at.