Influenza : $b An epidemiologic studyVaughan, Warren T. (Warren Taylor)
History
Influenza : $b An epidemiologic study
Vaughan, Warren T. (Warren Taylor)
Influenza
“The combination between influenza and pneumonia during the fall of 1918
seems to have been closer and more destructive than in any previous
pandemic. During the autumn season there were reported to the Surgeon
General 61,691 cases of pneumonia. This means that _one out of every
twenty-four men encamped in this country had pneumonia_.
“During the same period 22,186 men were reported to have died from the
combined effects of influenza and pneumonia. This means that among the
troops in this country _one out of every sixty-seven died_.
“This fatality has been unparallelled in recent times. The influenza
epidemic of 1918 ranks well up with the epidemics famous in history.
Epidemiologists have regarded the dissemination of cholera from the
Broad Street Well in London as a catastrophe. The typhoid epidemic of
Plymouth, Pa., of 1885, is another illustration of the damage that can
be done by epidemic disease once let loose. Yet the accompanying table
shows that the fatality from influenza and pneumonia at Camp Sherman was
greater than either of these. Compared with epidemics for which we have
fairly accurate statistics the death rate at Camp Sherman in the fall of
1918 is surpassed only by that of plague in London in 1665 and that of
yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1793.
“The plague killed 14 per cent. of London’s population in seven months’
time. Yellow fever destroyed 10 per cent. of the population of
Philadelphia in four months. In seven weeks influenza and pneumonia
killed 3.1 per cent. of the strength at Camp Sherman. If we consider the
time factor, these three instances are not unlike in their lethality.
The plague killed 2 per cent. of the population in a month, yellow fever
2.5 per cent. and influenza and pneumonia 1.9 per cent.
“In four months typhoid fever killed 1.5 per cent. of the soldiers
encamped in this country during the war with Spain. Influenza and
pneumonia killed 1.4 per cent. of the soldiers in our camps in 1918 and
it also covered a period of four months.”
The Bureau of the Census has made the following report concerning
influenza deaths in the United States:
“In forty-six American cities, having a combined population of only a
little more than one-fifth the total for the country, the mortality
resulting from the influenza epidemic during the nine weeks period ended
November 9th was nearly double that in the A. E. F. from the time the
first contingent landed in France until the cessation of hostilities.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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