Medicine: Many Colds

All over the U. S. last week people were suffering sore throats, fever, aching eyes, back pains. They went home, stayed in bed two or three days, felt better, got up. There was probably no one in the nation who, if he escaped these symptoms, did not know someone who had not. Nevertheless, due to its short duration and apparent lack of killing power, health officials in all principal U. S. cities unanimously hesitated to dignify the widespread respiratory malady by describing it as an influenza epidemic.

In New York City, every municipal and most private hospitals were jammed with influenza patients, yet Dr. Samuel Frant, the city’s chief epidemiologist, coolly announced: “The prevalence of influenza at present is very similar to that frequently experienced at this season of the year.” Indianapolis factories and offices were crippled by workers’ absences, but it was not felt that the disease necessitated municipal action. Boston was not officially exercised over “a slight gain” in respiratory diseases for the week, nor was Minneapolis alarmed about its “numerous colds and some grippe.” “Nothing in the way of an influenza epidemic,” cheerfully echoed Seattle, “but a great many common colds.” Denver, without announcing the number of influenza cases, told school children that they would have an extra week of Christmas vacation. Finally, Chicago’s Health Commissioner Herman Neils Bundesen observed: “Those who take care of themselves aren’t dying. The epidemic hasn’t yet reached the virulence of 1918. It is, however, the worst since 1928.”

In England, there was an influenza epidemic and no doubt about it. Queen Elizabeth was unable to attend the accession ceremonies of George VI because she had influenza. The new King’s sister, Princess Mary, suffered an attack, as did the Duke & Duchess of Gloucester. Last week Queen Mother Mary took sick. Observed the London Times: “Whole households are being affected and considerable dislocation of business is taking place.” The Sunday Dispatch: “1,000,000 persons are down with the flu.”

Influenza and its frequent herald, the common cold, are probably due to infection by a submicroscopic virus. Bacteriologists have not understood the exact nature of viruses, particularly whether they are living or dead substances. Because he proved that viruses are lifeless molecules, the American Association for the Advancement of Science last week awarded Dr. Wendell Meredith Stanley of the Rockefeller Institute a $1.000 prize (see p. 39). Next day Dr. Stanley went to bed stricken by influenza.

For Dr. Stanley and fellow sufferers through the world, few doctors could do more than prescribe with Dean Irving Samuel Cutter of Northwestern University Medical School: “Don’t try to eat. Starve yourself for a few days. Don’t eat even soft-boiled eggs. Tea, toast and fruit juices are all right but that’s about all. Drink lots of water. Don’t take strong laxatives. The disease is not in the intestinal tract but in the respiratory system. Don’t take liquor, of course, for it merely puts an extra load on the excretory organs.”