The pathology of influenzaWinternitz, M. C. (Milton C.)
Science
The pathology of influenza
Winternitz, M. C. (Milton C.)
Influenza
The epidemic of influenza, prevalent in Europe during the Great War, was
watched with interest everywhere, not only because of its military
importance, but also because of the danger of its spreading to other
continents. The prediction that this would occur, made months before its
realization, was verified on an even larger scale than had been
anticipated, for in the autumn of 1918, this acute respiratory infection
passed over the United States like a huge wave, taking a tremendous toll
in human lives; later smaller waves followed leaving in their wake
corresponding degrees of devastation. The first cases of the disease
appeared on the New England coast, and New Haven was among the cities to
be early invaded, though here the epidemic was somewhat less severe than
in other cities along the Atlantic Seaboard.
Forewarned and alert to the danger, medical men spared no effort in
studying the disease; as a result, no malady, perhaps, has ever been
investigated so intensively and from so many different points of attack
in an equal length of time. Proof of this appears in the abundant
literature issuing from every quarter. Among the various contributions
to this subject, many include the anatomical changes associated with the
disease. In general, however, these are brief; and although they serve
their special purpose well, they have not been elaborated sufficiently
to close the chapter.
During a period of about three months beginning with September 18, 1918,
while the epidemic raged and waned in New Haven, there were
approximately eleven hundred cases of the disease admitted to the New
Haven Hospital. As is so often true, only the more critically ill sought
hospital care, and few, if any, patients affected by other respiratory
infections are included in these statistics. The mortality here, as
elsewhere, was very high; of two hundred eighty (280) cases that ended
fatally, eighty-two (82) were investigated at the post-mortem table. An
attempt was made to make the studies very complete, and this was favored
since the headquarters of the Yale Army Laboratory School, under the
command of Colonel Charles F. Craig, were located at the Brady
Laboratory where a large number of men were being instructed in
Pathology and Bacteriology. It was also fortunate that competent
illustrators were available who made a splendid series of water-colors
and drawings of the characteristic lesions, both gross and microscopic.
The number of autopsied cases at the New Haven Hospital was augmented by
a series of acute fatalities from the same disease at the United States
General Hospital No. 16, at Allingtown, West Haven, where the anatomical
studies were carried on by the same group of men. The latter autopsies
offered nothing new, but served to corroborate the conclusions reached
at the New Haven Hospital.
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