[Clive]
Remembering the great influenza epidemic of 1918:
Camp Devens, 35 miles northwest of Boston, was seriously overcrowded… The flu struck there with a suddenness and virulence that had never been seen before."These men start with what appears to be an ordinary attack of LaGrippe or Influenza, and when brought to the Hosp. they very rapidly develop the most vicious type of Pneumonia that has ever been seen," wrote Roy Grist, a doctor at the Camp Devens hospital."Two hours after admission they have the Mahogany spots over the cheek bones, and a few hours later you can begin to see the Cyanosis extending from their ears and spreading all over the face, until it is hard to distinguish the coloured man from the white….It is only a matter of hours then until death comes….We have been averaging about 100 deaths per day….We have lost an outrageous number of Nurses and Drs."
Scientific knowledge of the causes was sketchy. It wasn’t the government’s finest hour:
Surgeon General Rupert Blue, head of the U.S. Public Health Service, was aware that an outbreak of flu was possible. But in July 1918, he denied a request for $10,000 to be dedicated to pneumonia research, and he made no other preparations. Blue’s first public warning came in mid-September and included such tips as"Avoid tight clothes, tight shoes, tight gloves — seek to make nature your ally not your prisoner" and"Help by choosing and chewing your food well."
[Via Real Clear Politics]
The Dish 
