JUNE

______
- June 1, 1918 -
QUEER EPIDEMIC SWEEPS NORTH CHINA...
______
Special cable to The New York Times.
PEKING, May 31.--A curious epidemic resembling influenza is sweeping over North China. There are 20,000 cases in Tientsin and thousands in Peking, where the banks and silk stores have been closed down for several days in large sections, the police being unable to attend to their duties. Fortunately, the sickness is not fatal, and it runs its course in four days....
______
______
- June 21, 1918 -
GERMAN HUNGER SPREADS DISEASE
______
Spain Affected by German Sickness and Other Countries Will Be, Says Hollander...
______
THE HAGUE, June 20.--The mysterious sickness now prevalent in Spain "comes from Germany and will doubtless soon reach other countries," said a Dutch tailor who recently returned from Germany. "Conditions among the civil population of Germany are terrible. Workmen die at their work from lack of nourishment...."
______
______
- June 27, 1918 -
Spanish Influenza Is Raging in the German Army; Grip and Typhus Also Prevalent Among Soldiers
______
LONDON, June 26.--Influenza is now epidemic all along the German front, according to advices received from the Dutch frontier, and the prevalence of this ailment is said to be hampering the preparations for offensive operations.
The proportion of men sent to hospitals on account of influenza has risen rapidly in all the German units in the last few days, and special hospitals are being established in the rear areas dealing solely with this disease.
Thus far only the more serious cases have been sent to the hospitals, but the German army doctors say that, unless even the light cases are removed from the units, it will be difficult to prevent further spread of the epidemic.
The disease prevalent in the German Army is reported to be of the new Spanish type, which recently broke out in Berlin and other German cities, and is presumed to have been brought to the trenches by men returning from leave.
In the German cities the disease has been very hard to deal with owing to the shortage of doctors and the conditions of undernutrition among the city populations.
______
WITH THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE, June 26, (Associated Press.)--German troops on the western front are suffering from an epidemic of grip, which incapacitates them for a week or ten days. There are also many cases of typhus and dysentery within the German lines southwest of Lille.
There is no evidence, however, that these illnesses are responsible for the delay of the new offensive. It is believed that the German High Command has nearly completed its preparations for the next great attack against the allied front.
______
[The prevalence of influenza and dysentery among the German troops on the western front was reported by Philip Gibbs in THE TIMES of Tuesday last.]
______
______
- June 28, 1918 -
Concerning "Spanish Influenza."
What degree of importance should be ascribed to the report that an epidemic of "Spanish influenza" is sweeping through the German armies on the western front depends on the degree of virulence marking the particular strain of bacilli that is now at work.
Sometimes the effects they produce are little more than annoying, but not infrequently they are completely disabling for long periods --several months--and many of the victims die or become invalids for life. It is possible, therefore, that the appearance of this malady may influence the conduct of the war, or even play a part in deciding its conclusion.
If one were allowed to be human rather than humane, there would be a general yielding throughout the allied world to the temptation to express the hope that the Germans may have the disease in a severe form. That would be no more than they deserve. Indeed, but for at least one reason--the reason that wishes, in such matters, do not count either way--it is better not to put in definite form a desire which, after all, is worthier of Germans than of civilized people.
Moreover, if the influenza is raging on one side of No Man's Land, it is sure soon to appear on our side of the lines. But that it would be equally disastrous when thus transferred by prisoners or otherwise is by no means certain. On the contrary, there is ground for hoping and even for believing that the soldiers of the Allies, not having been through a long course of undernourishment would be better able than the Germans to resist the attack of the bacilli, and that their sufferings from such a cause would be comparatively light.
The fact that this influenza is called Spanish by no means proves it of that origin. Dubious, too, is the recently suggested theory that the malady in its present form was started by the conditions produced among men making long cruises in submarines. Yet that theory may be true. Bacilli are as much affected by environment as are any other animals, and the submarine strain of the influenza bacillus might well be measurably unlike its relatives and more injurious to human hosts.
______

JULY

______
- July 2, 1918 -
FUMIGATE FOR INFLUENZA
______
All of Spanish Ship Treated to Keep Out War Disease
AN ATLANTIC PORT, July 2.--Passengers arriving today from Spain were fumigated before the health officers would let them land. In addition their clothing was passed through a steamer lest the passengers bring ashore germs of the influenza which has been prevalent in Spain for five months.
Passengers in the first cabin say it was supposed in Spain that the germs of influenza had been brought by the strong Winter winds from the battlefields of France and that they would have been more deadly if they had not encountered the snow-clad Pyrennees.
Mrs. Andrea De Onis of Salamanca said the disease had spread over Spain and brought business to a standstill in many cities....
______
______
- July 9, 1918 -
GERMANS WITH FEVER DROP IN THEIR TRACKS
______
New Disease Strikes Very Suddenly and Men Are in the Hospital at Least Six Days.
______
WITH THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE, July 8.--Captured documents and statements by prisoners indicate that the Germans are having a bad time in numerous zones with the new influenza which is running through Europe. An unposted letter found in the pocket of a man captured on July 4 throws some light on the subject. It read:
"I feel so ill that I should like to report sick. Fever is rampant among us and already a whole lot of men are in the hospital. Every day more go in. As I have not yet had leave and am expecting to go any day, I shall not report sick yet anyway."
This letter, of course, refers to the prisoner's own sector and not to the whole German front, of which he would know little.
The new fever is said to strike down the men so quickly that they drop in their tracks while on duty. They have high fever for two or three days and are usually laid up for at least six days in the hospital.
______
______
- July 11, 1918 -
KAISER ILL OF INFLUENZA
______
Said to Have Left Western Front Because of Attack of Spanish Grip
ROME, July 10.--Emperor William himself has fallen victim to the influenza that has been so prevalent in the German army, according to advices from a Swiss source that have reached the Epoca.
These say that the Emperor has gone home from the French front because of the attack of the "Spanish grip," as it is called, and that several members of the Emperor's family also are suffering from the same malady.
______
______
- July 13, 1918 -
RAIN INCREASE GERMAN TROUBLES...
War correspondents' headquarters, JULY 12.--...The "Flanders grip," as they call the sickness which is now rife among them, is not the only form of sickness which is weakening their manpower for the time. Typhus is said to have occurred in at least one resting division. It would be interesting to know how the wet weather will tend to increase or diminish the chance of infection....
______
______
- July 23, 1918 -
QUARANTINE BERNE PUBLIC
All Meetings Forbidden During the Epidemic of Grippe.
BERNE, July 22.--Owing to the prevalence of "Spanish grippe" the municipality has forbidden under penalty of 5000 francs or three months of imprisonment, performances in theatres, picture houses, music halls, concerts, or meetings of any kind, including religious ceremonies, until further orders.
______
______
- July 26, 1918 -
EPIDEMICS IN GERMANY
______
Typhus in Berlin, Malaria in Baden, Influenza Everywhere....
______

AUGUST

______
- August 15, 1918 -
NO QUARANTINE HERE AGAINST INFLUENZA
______
Patients from Norwegian Vessel Had Disease on Shipboard, and Now Have Pneumonia.
______
CITY HEALTH BOARD TO ACT
______
Danger from Spanish Epidemic Will Be Discussed with Dr. Cofer, Port Health Officer.
______
There were cases of influenza, Spanish or some other kind, aboard a Norwegian steamer when she arrived at Quarantine on Tuesday and when she tied up at her pier. This statement was made yesterday by Dr. Leland E. Cofer, Health Officer of the Port, and was confirmed by Health Commissioner Copeland. However, all the patients transferred from the ship to the Norwegian Hospital in Brooklyn now have pneumonia.
Both Dr. Copeland and Dr. Cofer were emphatic that there was not the slightest danger of an epidemic of Spanish influenza in New York. While, according to Dr. Cofer, the Spanish variety is more virulent than any other known influenza, it seldom attacks any but persons who are badly nourished. Dr. Copeland said the same thing, and added: "You haven't heard of our doughboys getting it, have you? You bet you haven't, and you won't. But you have heard of cases in the German Army, because prisoners taken by the English have had it. No need for our people to worry over the matter."
When the steamer arrived at Quarantine her surgeon reported that there were nine cases of influenza on board. (Dr. Cofer says the surgeon did not use the world "Spanish,") and that there had been three deaths at sea from pneumonia, which had been preceded by influenza. Dr. Cofer permitted the steamer to proceed to her pier. He had no opinion to express as to whether it might be well to establish such a quarantine, but Dr. Copeland said there would be a meeting of the New York Board of Health today, at which Dr. Cofer would be present, and that the subject would be discussed.
On the other hand, Dr. Rora Tole of the Norwegian Hospital, who has charge of the patients transferred from the ship said that while they were now suffering from pneumonia, the pneumonia was "probably brought on by Spanish influenza."
"At the time these patients entered the hospital," the doctor said, "their histories corresponded with the histories of cases of Spanish influenza in that, soon after they became ill, they developed severe headaches and high fevers. It was caused, probably, by the close quarters and food that was not as nourishing as it might have been. The patients are now suffering from pneumonia, and are doing as well as might be expected."
The following bulletin was issued by the Department of Health last evening:
"Many thousands of cases resembling influenza have occurred in Spain and Germany, and some in England. In Spain and Germany it has been reported that one-third of the population of the sections in which the disease appeared was attacked. On this side of the Atlantic the disease visited certain parts of Cuba last June and one-quarter of the population of Havana was said to have been affected, but not a single death resulted. In Spain, however, it has been reported that something like 700 deaths from the disease have occurred.
"The symptoms reported are fever, general aching of joints and head, catarrh of the conjunctivil nasal and bronchial mucous membranes. Cases usually run their courses in about three days, without serious results. Reports from Spain state that in the majority examined, a streptococcus and a gram-negative diplococcus of what is known as the catarrhalis type were found. It is evident that, before we know what the disease is, or even if all the cases reported can be ascribed to the same organism, we must await reports of further investigations. From the reports of the physicians attending the cases in the Norwegian Hospital, we have no reason to believe that the illnesses are the same as those which caused the European epidemic. The hospital physicians say the patients have pneumonia.
"The public has no reason for alarm, since, through the protection afforded by our most efficient Quarantine station and the constant vigilance of the city's health authorities, all the protection that sanitary science can give is assured. The very mildness of the disease, as reported in Europe, is in itself assurance against anxiety on this side of the water. Our troops in France, so far, have escaped attack from this influenza, although some of those of Germany and a few perhaps, of those of Britain and France, have suffered. This has been ascribed to the great resistance which well-fed, healthy individuals offer to the disease."
Two more of the Norwegian ship's company were transferred to the Norwegian Hospital yesterday suffering, apparently, from the symptoms shown by the other patients. There was the same headache and joint ache and the same high fever. The new cases are August Erickson, 21 years old, a waiter aboard the ship, and Duger Rusta, 19 years old, a member of the crew. Although Dr. Edward E. Crowmell of 1218 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, who was called to attend the patients, said on Tuesday that he was treating them for pneumonia, he caused them all to be isolated yesterday and took germ cultures for bacterial analysis.
Whether for informative or defensive purposes was not explained, but late last evening the statement was made at Quarantine that the reason the Norwegian was passed was because the ship's surgeon reported that all his sick folk had recovered. This is altogether a different reason from that given by Dr. Cofer earlier in the day, when he said the ship had been passed because there was no quarantine at this port against influenza.