Influenza : $b An epidemiologic studyVaughan, Warren T. (Warren Taylor)
History
Influenza : $b An epidemiologic study
Vaughan, Warren T. (Warren Taylor)
Influenza
“The above figures are for the period of five weeks from August 28th to
October 1st, 1918, and cover the most active portion of the epidemic,
but are obviously incomplete. They are given for purposes of
comparison.”
Woolley makes the observation that the organizations which spent most of
the time in the open and which were therefore most exposed to the
weather suffered least during the epidemic. This was particularly true
in the Remount Depot.
In our work we have attempted to classify our population according to
occupation along very broad lines.
“_Infant_” includes all individuals up to the age of two years. In these
the exposure is limited by the fact that they are either relatively
isolated at home, or when abroad, are still under relative isolation in
a perambulator or under the eye of a nurse. There is relatively little
commingling with the older age groups.
“_Child_,” refers to all children up to the age of school years. There
is relatively much greater commingling, particularly with other
individuals of the same age.
“_School_” refers to all children and adolescents who were reported as
attending school.
“_Home_” includes not only the housewife, the housekeeper, but also
servants and invalids; all who in their daily routine spend the greater
part of the time in the home.
“_Manual Indoors_” refers chiefly to laborers in factories and includes
all manufacturing occupations in which the work is of a manual character
no matter what the particular branch.
“_Manual Outdoors_” refers to such occupations as ditch diggers, street
cleaners, conductors and motormen, longshoremen, trucksters and
teamsters, telephone and telegraph linemen, etc.
“_Retail Sales Indoors_” refers to clerks in stores and all other
individuals who, working indoors, come into about the same degree of
contact with the public-at-large.
“_Retail Sales Outdoors_” includes sales agents, life insurance agents,
traveling salesman, pedlers, newsboys, etc.
“_Office_,” officials, secretaries, stenographers, telephone operators,
telegraph operators, etc.
We have observed that in 1918 infants presented the lowest incidence and
school children the highest. Occupations designated Home and Office were
surprisingly high. Children also showed a high incidence, one out of
every five developing the disease. The records show that manual labor,
both indoors and outdoors, was associated with a higher incidence than
less strenuous work, as retail sales, indoors and outdoors (Chart
XXIII).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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