Studies on Epidemic Influenza: Comprising Clinical and Laboratory InvestigationsUniversity of Pittsburgh. School of Medicine
History
Studies on Epidemic Influenza: Comprising Clinical and Laboratory Investigations
University of Pittsburgh. School of Medicine
Influenza; Influenza Epidemic, 1918-1919
Table I shows the urinary findings of uncomplicated influenza cases
admitted to the wards of the Mercy Hospital. None of these cases
developed pneumonia and, after running the usual course, recovered. We
would call attention to the fact that 25 per cent. showed albuminuria.
The amount of albumin was never excessive, and very often was little
more than a faint trace. On the other hand, we have had a few patients
where a previous kidney lesion was known to be present, and naturally in
these cases a heavy cloud of albumin was met with. The albuminuria was
almost always a transient affair, lasting only during the acute part of
the illness, and would rightly come under the class of febrile
albuminuria. We regard it as being more the evidence of nephrosis than a
nephritis. As a rule, the time for the appearance of albumin was after
the fever had been present for at least two or three days. One rarely
met with it in the short attacks of influenza where the temperature came
to normal in less than 72 hours. A certain time factor appeared to be
necessary in order for the nephrosis to develop. Another point of
interest is the presence of red and white blood cells seen relatively
frequently during the early days of the illness. One wonders if this
finding is analogous to the bleeding from the nose and lung so often met
with at the onset of the disease. The red blood cells were seen
microscopically, and only very rarely did we encounter a smoky urine.
TABLE I
URINE ANALYSIS IN CASES OF UNCOMPLICATED INFLUENZA AT THE MERCY HOSPITAL
───────┬─────────┬───────────────────────────────┬──────┬──────┬──────
Day of │Total No.│ │ │ │
Disease│ of │ SPECIFIC GRAVITY │ Alb. │R.B.C.│Casts
│Specimens│ │ │ │
───────┼─────────┼───────┬───────┬───────┬───────┼──────┼──────┼──────
│ │1001–10│1011–20│1021–30│1031–40│ │ │
───────┼─────────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼──────┼──────┼──────
2│ 118│ 8│ 31│ 61│ 18│ 29│ 17│ 8
3│ 97│ 8│ 15│ 62│ 12│ 23│ 10│ 11
4│ 51│ 9│ 22│ 17│ 3│ 11│ 7│
5│ 24│ 4│ 2│ 14│ 4│ 5│ 3│ 4
6│ 11│ │ │ 8│ 3│ 4│ │
7│ 25│ │ 10│ 14│ 1│ 8│ │
8│ 12│ │ 2│ 8│ 2│ 6│ │ 3
9│ 4│ │ 2│ 1│ 1│ 2│ │
18│ 2│ │ 1│ 1│ │ │ │
───────┼─────────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼──────┼──────┼──────
Totals │ 344│ 29│ 95│ 186│ 44│ 88│ 37│ 26
───────┴─────────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴──────┴──────┴──────
TABLE II
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