A MEDICAL VIEW.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXIX, Issue 3998, 25 November 1918, Page 2

A MEDICAL VIEW.

INFLUENZA AND PNEUMONIA,

(By Medicus in M^lhxmrne Argus)

The older generations of. physicians regarded pneumonia, or inflammation of the lung, as due to chill. They argued that chilling of the surface produced an internal congestion, which went on to inflanmation. They were perfectly right, as far as they went, but they were without the knowledge that the actual disease was determined by . the presence of a minute specific germ. Many of them regarded the complaint as infectious; but it was not until after 1880 that the bacterial nature of the disease was fully established. Various organisms were for a time in dispute, but about 1886 a particular germ, discovered by Fraenkel, was definitely accepted as the true. invader, and is nowadays everywhere recognised as the " pneumoccus." Consequently in modern text-books pneumonia lias been removed from diseases of the lung and is now classed among the acute infections. It is still accepted that chill, and especially a chill contracted when sufferer is fatigued, out of condition, or placed in unhygienic surroundings, is the factor which most frequently predisposes:., to an attack of pneumoniaT" " .

While there is no question that pneumonia is. an acute infection, it is very rare in ordinary everyday surroundings, to find that the disease is directly communicated from a sufferer to those in attendance. But where many persons are crowded in ill-ven-tilated dwelling places or on board ships, the malady often spreads very rapidly. In the mining " compounds " in South Africa the mortality was so appalling that a special investigation was carried out some years ago by Sir Almroth Wright. Pneumonia is an extremely fatal disorder in any circumstances, but its fatality varies very considerably. In the South African compounds the mortality occasionally reached very high figures. In ordinary civil hospital practice it ranges *f rom 20 to 30 per cent.

The "pneumo-coccus" may Tje looked upon also as a rather cowardly-germ, whic,h frequently waits for some other organism to make an initial attack, and then takes advantage of the situation to get to work on its own account. In this way it is a frequent associate of the -influenza bacillus, and begins its deadly thrust just where the less fatal germ would be content to accept defeat. So far as information is available, it is this association of pneumonia and influenza which is responsible for the grave features of the present pandemic outbreak, which goes by the name of Soanish Influenza.

The question put.by the community is, " What shall we do to be saved ? r and it must be confesed that it is only possible to set out certain general and special precautions which are advocated, and bid the people be of good cheer, f6r there is no doubt that panic is the very worst attitude in which to face any threatened peril. In the first place it is of the highest, importance to avoid chill, and. as has been i-emarked, to avoid chill when the bodily resistance is lowered by anxiety, fatigue, or want of food. In the spring season many people are careless as to clothing. In the Old World there i? a proverb, " Don't cast a, clout till May is out y " and out here the same rule is advisable until October is gone. The second general precaution is the maintenance of personal, hygiene, and especially attention to good ventilation; always keeping in mind that ventilation does not mean sitting in a draft, nor yet sleeping on a verandah, or between open doors It is an unfortunately common experience to see an overheated woman wrapped in furs enter a tramcar and insist on sitting before an open'win-, dow for a quarter of an Irur, much to the general discomfort and her own" certain undoing. That is not hygiene.

The first special precaution is to avoid close contact with anyone wh.-r has unfortunately already contracted influenza. There is a superstition in Ireland that when in search of good luck it, is wise to avoid "hoppers and blinkers," and it is a scientific truth that during an influenza epidemic it is courting disaster to associate with sneezers and spitters.- Otherwise, personal hygiene means careful living, and cleanliness in every acceptation of the term.