Italy: The Moon Bug

Through Italy’s autunno caldo (hot autumn), some 5,000,000 workers walked off their jobs—traffic cops, bus drivers, postmen, teachers, garbage collectors, steel and auto workers, even casino croupiers. Newspapers took to printing daily “strike calendars,” and by telephoning 85 85 45, beleaguered Italians could hear a recorded message informing them which walkouts were on for that day. Last week, however, one group of workers took the unusual step of calling off a scheduled 72-hour strike. They were employees of the Italian Red Cross, and they were desperately needed to help out in the country’s latest disaster —a flu epidemic.

Some Italians dubbed the new bug “the moon flu,” because it began to spread about the time the Apollo 12 astronauts returned to earth. Others called it “space flu,” because it moved south at 20 miles per hour. Italy’s Ministry of Health labeled it “a variation of A2 Hong Kong flu, a nephew of the Asiatic type,” which reached epidemic proportions in Europe and the U.S. in 1967-68. By whatever name, as of last week the flu had struck 15 million Italians (out of 54 million). Said one U.S. diplomat: “I haven’t seen anything like this since America’s first flu epidemic of 1918.”

In Rome, 1,500,000 persons—half of the capital’s population—had been stricken, including Premier Mariano Rumor. In Milan, the disease affected one person in three, including 1,000 streetcar drivers and 330 policemen. City halls and law courts closed down, and pharmacies rationed medicines. In Turin, a third of the municipal employees were absent, and so was the city’s entire squadra mobile, the elite police squad normally called out in emergencies. Two-thirds of the 1,000 residents of the tiny Tyrrhenian island of Ventotene were ill, including the only doctor.

Despite its infectiousness, the moon flu lasts only two or three days and is remarkably benign; only five deaths have been reported in Italy so far, and all from complications that developed as a result of the flu. Health authorities claim to have used older vaccines against it with some success, but Rome’s daily Il Messaggero asked: “Who believes you? Anyone can see the epidemic is still gaining force.” It is expected to reach its peak next week.