THE DREAD EPIDEMIC

Evening Star, Issue 17032, 1 May 1919, Page 2

THE DREAD EPIDEMIC

A STUDY OF PESTILENCES. DR COLQUHOUN AGAINST QUARANTINE, j BETTER HYGIENE THE SURE SHIELD. The first of a series of winter lectures of j timely and educative character, arranged ■ bv the Dunedin branch of the Empire Ser- j vice League, was delivered in Allen Hall; last evening by Dr Colquhoun, the chair- , man of the branch. His subject, ' Influ- j enza and Other Epidemics,' held special interest in view of tho lecturer's unique j experience as a practising physician, and I the limpidly clear way in which he mar- ! shalled the' results of his observation and ! the inferences to be drawn. Dr Benham I presided. ! EPIDEMICS HAVE DESTROYED EMPIRES. Dr Colquhoun said that an outstanding fact of history was the extensive influence ;of epidemic diseases on mankind. If, as I we ought to do, we included among them , epidemics which had attacked the vegetable i and animal kingdoms, Ave could say with I truth that they had destroyed empires, i that they had "fashioned our lives as we j now knew them, and that our mental, I moral, and spiritual qualities had been ; shaped and modified by them. Thus the i Great Plague of the sixth century, and the j still more" disastrous plague of the four-, teenth century, known as the Black Death I —which, it was said, left only one-tenth the ! population of England alive, and was ! credited with a total of 25,000,000 deaths—- ' profoundly affected the fortunes of Europe. From our own experience of a minor pestilence, we could judge what must have been the effect of a plague which destroyed ; so large a part of the population, which \ deeply disturbed all human relations, deist roved all law and order, loosened all i social tie?, and set free the lowest impulses j of mankind. Influenza was now the epidemic with which, the whole world was familiar. Some had held it had some relationship with ; the Plague, and it was not unlikely that, | in the uncertainty which existed in the Middle Ages as to the nature of all epidemic diseases, some of the epidemics described as placue might have been the virui lent influenza of to-day. But plague and , i influenza were distinct diseases, though I • they had some similar features—as, for i j example, they apparently had their origin ;in the East from densely-populated disj tricts, and travelled in the lines of human | communications, at the rate of human I travel. Since 1175 a.d. to the middle of i the nineteenth century 83 epidemics of unI doubted influenza had been described, and i without going into details it mieht be said ' that no features of recent ep'demics had : been absent in those recorded by older ob- ; servers. On the whole it might be said | that the main characteristics of influenza j I were the widespread nature of the conj tagion and the comparatively small mmi-! I ber of deaths ; while yet, owing to the im- ; ! mense numbers attacked, it was probably true that influenza had killed more people | than cholera or plague. | INFECTION AND IMMUNITY. The lecturer described in a fascinating j i way the views—quaint and barbarous many j !of them—which were h?W of epidemics i I before the discoveries of the ninetenth cen-1 ituiy: and he related the investigations which led to the identification of germs causing various diseases, and the way in which they were distributed. There were, he said, many problems with regard to infection which had not been solved An | influenza bacillus had been discovered: but i it was certain that in many cases we had I a compound infection. It seemed likely I that there was something taking part in I the recent epidemic which was even smaller | than the bacillus—something which could pass through a fine filter and yet retain its infectivity. In no epidemic was it merely a question of a germ getting into the body with a definite result following. For some unknown reason some people did not suffer from infections, or cv'y slightly, and this immunity might be a personal or j a racial peculiarity. People who lived in i unhealthy slums in large cities were often j indifferent to conditions which were fatal to newcomers from the country; and, again, diseases which had been common in the populations of Europe and Asia for centuries, when introduced among races who had had no experience of them, were generally relatively fatal among them. Smallpox destroyed whole tribes of Indians in America, and tubercular diseases had proved excessively virulent when introduced among races who had lived apart from the general traffic of the world for many centuries. NURSERIES OF CONTAGION. It was evident that the human parasites which originated disease flourished best when their hosts were weakened by famine, and probably also when nervous force was weakened by war, and terror arising from war, or pestilence, or civil commotion. It was certain that all diseases were nursed into activity by overcrowding and the consequent pollution of the air. Our overcrowded schools were nurseries of contagion, and so were all densely-populated districts, and all crowds collected for whatever purpose. HOW TO FIGHT PESTILENCE. In considering the practical question how to fight pestilence, we had to remember first that all these lower organisms which lived on man were favoifltl by dirt and disorder, and destroyed, nearly all of them, by free exposure to sunlight. The lesson "to be inbibed by us in the meantime was that by systematic attention to water supply, drainage, cleanliness, and housing some of the chief epidemic diseases of the past had been banished from many of the large centres of the world's population. Quarantine, he thought, had always been a ■clumsy, oppressive, and ineffectual measure. " No country could afford to pay the price of thorough isolation (as old Japan did), and half-measures were of little"use. We had the example of Australia before us during the late epidemic, and it was instructive but not encouraging for the supporters of quarantine. All the best authorities had agreed for many years that isolation of infected individuals'should be carried out, but that measures tending to harass travellers, check trade, and interfere with international communications were harmful and useless. He could only ■ look upon such an interference with our -communications with Australia and Ame- ■ rica as the result of panic and ignorance. Speaking briefly en inoculation as a • means of protection. Dr Colquhoun said ■ 1 that, without discussing what was a tech- ' nk-al question, there should be little diffi- ' culty in deciding against the general principle of attacking infectious diseases by ; inoculation. Considering the number and variety 7 of infections to which man was '■ liable, it would be -seen that a large part ■ of his life might be occupied in protect- > ing himself against them. THE SURE SHIELD. "On the whole," said the lecturer in conclusion. " I believe the wisest thing that can be done is to improve in every way we can our ipublic and private hy- ; giene. In fresh-air schools as against [ foul-air schools, we have the best measure of protection against the infections to which children are most prone. In good '. drainage, good water, good housing, i healthy workshops and a offices, temperance ) and clean living, the" clearing away of unwholesome houses, and the destruction of insect life we shall find cur best protection against influenza and other epidemic diseases; and our best hopes of maintaining a healthy and contented national life in New Zealand." " The speaker was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.