Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 targeted younger victims
Ever since COVID- 19 began making its rounds outside of China, a lot of comparisons have been made between it and the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. But how similar are the two diseases? What sort of treatments were available in 1918? How did Spanish Flu affect people’s lives around here? We found the answers to those questions and many others by looking back into the pages of the 1918-19 Loyal Tribune. Though it is called Spanish Flu, it was unknown for sure at the time where the disease originated. It was thought by some to have come from somewhere in East Asia; reports from U.S. Surgeon General Rupert Blue appearing in the pages of the 1918 Loyal Tribune stated the first cases of Spanish Flu were found in German and Russian soldiers fighting on the Eastern Front in 1917 during World War I. But to maintain morale during wartime, much of the news surrounding the virus’ spread in the first several months was suppressed, only gaining public attention when neutral Spain’s monarch, King Alfonso XIII, came down with the sickness in May of 1918.
Locally, the flu — or “la grippe” as it was called — did not become a concern until after October when the virus had already made its way to the United States and peaked in the major cities. The first reports about the Spanish Flu occurred in the Loyal Tribune on Oct. 24, 1918 in its pages of U.S. news. A few weeks later, the news became a bit more local, and comparisons were made between the new Spanish Flu and another influenza outbreak known as the Russian Flu that had occurred during 1889-90.
“Nothing new, simply the old grip or La Grippe that was epidemic in 1889-90. Only then it came from Russia by way of France and this time by way of Spain,” stated a headline from the Nov. 7, 1918 Loyal Tribune.
The Symptoms
Because most of the country and world had already experienced the Spanish Flu before it even came to Clark and Marathon counties, there was a great deal of information about the symptoms of the sickness that was shared in the pages of the Loyal Tribune in early November. Beginning with chills, a person infected with Spanish Flu would then develop aches, a fever that could last from three to five days, nausea, dizziness and a general feeling of weakness and depression. The virus would attack the mucous membranes and lining of the air passages — the nose, throat and bronchial tubes. The patient would have a hard cough, especially at night, a sore throat and occasionally tonsillitis.
For some people, that would be the extent of it. But for others — mostly young adults — the influenza would weaken the body’s immune system enough to develop complications. Pneumonia was the most common cause of death following a bout of influenza, but patients infected with Spanish Flu were also warned they could develop tuberculosis or meningitis.
“The disease now occurring in the country and called Spanish influenza resembles a very contagious kind of cold, accompanied by fever, pains in the head, eyes, ears, back or other parts of the body and a feeling of severe sickness,” said Surgeon General Blue in reports from the Loyal Tribune. “In most of the cases, the symptoms disappear after three or four days, the patient then rapidly recovering. Some of the patients, however, develop pneumonia, or inflammation of the ear, or meningitis and many of these complicated cases die. Whether this so called Spanish influenza is identical with the epidemics of influenza of earlier years is not yet known … In most cases a person taken sick with influenza feels sick rather suddenly. He feels, weak, has pains in the eyes, ears, head or back and may be sore all over. Many patients feel dizzy, some vomit. Most of the patients complain of feeling chilly and with this comes a fever in which the temperature rises to 100-104 degrees. In most cases, the pulse remains relatively slow. In appearance, one is struck by the fact that the patient looks sick. His eyes and the inside of his eyelids may be slightly bloodshot or ‘congested,’ as the doctors say. There may be running from the nose, or there may be some cough. These signs of a cold may not be marked. Nevertheless, the patient looks and feels very sick.”
Treatment
In 1918, people seeking treatment for sickness were often found caught between trying home remedies to cure a disease or trying any one of the new drugs that were being developed at the time. Some of these drugs and ‘cures,’ however, were warned to be fraudulent and people were told to only use methods and drugs that were proven to work by years of experience.
To avoid getting sick, people were instructed to avoid crowds and people who coughed. Exercise in the fresh air and general cleanliness was encouraged. People were also told to follow the three C’s of ‘clean mouth, clean skin and clean bowels’. For those helping a sick person, they were told to either wear a washable gown or an apron ‘which covers the dress,’ wear a gauze mask to protect their faces, and needed to learn how to use a fever thermometer.
When a person fell sick, people were told to have the patient sent to bed and wrapped in warm blankets and to keep them there until two days after the fever passed. Once in bed, the patient was told to eat good food, take laxatives, and let the sickness run its course. Patients could also try using Vick’s VapoRub — a relatively new drug — take hot mustard foot baths, drink plenty of hot lemonade and be given a diet of milk, soft-boiled eggs, toast and crackers, jelly or jam, stewed fruit and cooked cereal if they lost a desire to eat. When the patient recovered, they were told to take vegetable and iron pills to boost their immune system.
Handkerchiefs, commonly used at the time, were discouraged for those with influenza. Old rags, toilet paper and paper napkins were instead encouraged. After these items were used, they were to be put into a paper bag and burned. Those people taking care of the sick were also told to watch what was being coughed up, if it appeared pinkish or blood-stained, they were told to call a doctor immediately. “The comfort of the patient depends on a number of little things, and these should not be overlooked,” stated an article in the Oct. 24, 1918 Loyal Tribune. “Among these may be mentioned a well-ventilated room, a thoroughly clean bed with fresh smooth sheets and pillowcases, quiet, so that refreshing sleep may be had, cool drinking water conveniently placed, a cool compress to the forehead if there is headache, keeping the patient’s hands and face clean, and
“Deaths of the Past Week, Many homes saddened by the Dread Disease.” -- Loyal Tribune headline that ran weekly for six weeks in late 1918
STAFF PHOTO the hair combed, keeping his mouth clean, preferably with some pleasant mouth wash, letting the patient know that someone is within call, but not annoying him with too much fussing, giving the patient plenty of opportunity to rest and sleep.”
Measures taken by local authorities
Just as the pandemic was being declared over in areas of the country such as San Francisco, local authorities began taking steps to stop the spread of influenza as deaths began to reach its peak in the area. An official ordinance from the Board of Health of the Village of Loyal appeared in the Dec. 12, 1918 issue of the Loyal Tribune, listing eight rules to follow during the pandemic: “Rule 1: All homes in where there is a care of influenza (la grippe) or pneumonia associated with influenza shall be placarded in a conspicuous place with a red card on which shall be printed the word INFLUENZA at least two inches in height, all persons having such a disease shall be isolated in the home or hospital and no person shall be allowed to enter said home or the sick room at the hospital except the attending physician, nurse, members of the health board and health officer, without the permission of the health officer or of his assistants.
Rule 2: Every physician engaged to treat a case of influenza who shall have personal knowledge of any case of said disease shall within 24 hours thereafter report the same to the health officer. When a physician is not employed, the responsible head of the family shall report the case to the health officer.
Rule 3: All individuals in the home, except those who are engaged in gainful occupations, shall be prohibited from leaving the premises as long as the home remains placarded.
Rule 4: Individuals in the home not afflicted with the disease who are engaged in gainful occupations may be permitted to follow such occupations on the condition that they do not frequent public meetings, churches, schools, theaters, pool rooms, billiard halls, saloons, or any place where people from time to time congregate in considerable numbers. Teachers and such other persons with a gainful occupation or business who, in the opinion of the local board of health, may be dangerous factors in the spread of influenza on account of their associations with large numbers of people shall, when influenza is present in the home, take up their residence in another home free of the disease or be quarantined.
Rule 5: All homes shall be placarded by or under the direction of the local health officer and said placard shall not be removed until at least four days after the temperature has registered normal in the last case occurring in such home (it is not safe for anyone who has had influenza to return to usual vocation for at least 10 days from the time his temperature is normal) Rule 6: After patients have recovered from influenza (la grippe) or pneumonia associated with influenza, the house shall be thoroughly aired, the woodwork washed with soap and water or an approved disinfectant and all bed clothing used by the patient shall be boiled or thoroughly cleansed and aired.
Rule 7: All police officers shall prevent loitering in public places and shall assist the health officer in the enforcement of all ordinances, rules and regulations for the protection of the the public health.
Rule 8: Penalty. Section 5608. Any person who shall willfully violate any law relating to the public health for which violation no penalty is prescribed, or any other order or regulation of any board of health lawfully made and duly published, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than three months or by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.”
Shortages
Across the U.S., hospitals were sounding the alarm on the shortage of doctors and nurses who were available to handle the amount of patients coming in with Spanish Flu. To address the shortage, the Surgeon General advised that people learn how to take care of their own sick and only call a doctor in the case of severe illness.
Besides doctors and nurses, Vick’s VapoRub was the only other item mentioned in the Loyal Tribune that was affected by a shortage. An advertisement from the company in the Nov. 21, 1918 Tribune stated it had been completely wiped out of its excess stocks in just one week of the Spanish Flu pandemic and told druggists they would get stocks to them as they could and encouraged people to ration their bottles.
Deaths
An official infection count was not made at the time, however numerous obituaries from the time stated, “influenza followed by pneumonia,” as the cause of death. Some of the first deaths reported in the pages of the Loyal Tribune were of local young men who were in the Army and stationed at bases in other parts of the country.
As the pandemic became more local, numerous deaths were reported each week. Starting on Nov. 16, 1918, obituaries listing those who had died of the Spanish Flu were put on the front page of the Loyal Tribune under the headline: “Deaths of the Past Week, Many homes saddened by the Dread Disease.” This headline appeared in the paper every week until Dec. 26, 1918.
In total, about 25 obituaries from Oct. 24 1918 until Feb. 13, 1919 had listed influenza as the cause of death, about 10 of which died outside the area but were relatives of residents and were buried in local cemeteries. The funerals held at the time were all private, held at the home of the family affected. Only close relatives were allowed to attend the services, but some businesses halted work at the time of the funeral out of respect for the deceased.
Some of the victims of the 1918 Spanish Flu were: -- Private Edward W. Werle of the Company G. 14th Ammunition Train stationed at Camp Custer in Battlecreek, Mich. He was 31 years old, was the youngest son of the Philip Werle family and had nine siblings. He had been in the service for four months and due to the pandemic, could not have a military funeral.
-- Anthony Kilburn, the first local victim of the Spanish Flu, he died at 17 years of age. He was the only son of Mrs. E. Kilburn and had two sisters. He had just started working at the Loyal State Bank and was the youngest member of the Catholic Knights of Columbus in the state, having joined at age 15. The two banks in town closed from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. on the day of his funeral out of respect.
-- Private Glen C. Castner, the oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Castner. He had been stationed in Louisiana after registering for the armed forces on his 21st birthday, a few months before he passed away. All the businesses in Loyal closed from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. on the day of his funeral.
-- Paul Brussow, son of Mr. and Mrs. Chas Brussow. He was 29 years of age and had been married to Hilda Nelson in 1912, having one son who preceded him in death. His brother, Helmuth Brussow, died just 10 days later. He died one day after his 28th birthday and left behind a wife and young son.
-- Richard Beilka, an immigrant from Germany who was considered a real genius. He had secured several U.S. patents on mechanical devices and left behind a wife and three children.
-- Carl E. Lange, who died at age 25. He had a daughter, Mildred Viola, who followed him in death just one day later. She was four months and eight days old. They were buried together in Merrill.
