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Medical historian urges vaccination
Doctor says Spanish flu of 1918-1919 spread quickly
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
Sat. Oct 31 -
BRIDGEWATER ? Dr. Allan Marble hopes to get both his flu shots next week because he knows just how deadly the flu can be.
He is writing a book ? his third ? on the history of medicine in Nova Scotia. He is the first person to take a look at the impact of the 1918-1919 Spanish flu epidemic on Nova Scotia.
"Nothing had ever been written on it," he said. ""Not one thing. It was the forgotten epidemic."
The Spanish flu killed 1,780 Nova Scotians in six months and a further 300 during its second wave beginning in February 1920.
"It was an H1N1 flu," Dr. Marble said, though it had different characteristics than the one that is currently leaving hundreds of Nova Scotians standing outside for hours waiting to be vaccinated.
There are different varieties of H1N1 and while the Spanish flu rapidly progressed, the current strain is not as violent. The cough and fever symptoms of the current H1N1 are milder with the recent sudden deaths of a young boy and girl the only indications of any similarity.
"Everyone is hoping it won?t be as virulent, but nobody knows," Dr. Marble said, adding it may mutate, but it may not.
Dr. Marble spoke about the Spanish flu epidemic at the DesBrisay Museum in Bridgewater this week. It?s the fifth talk he has given on the subject.
He said current concern over H1N1 has created more interest in what he has to say.
And there?s one question he gets everywhere: What should I do?
"The best advice anybody can be given is to go somewhere and completely isolate yourself from everyone and not put your hands on anything anyone else has touched and stay there until it?s over," he said.
Since that?s not going to happen, he recommends people get inoculated, wash their hands and follow the other precautions recommended by the provincial and federal health departments.
When the Spanish flu hit Nova Scotia in September 1918, the mayor of Halifax at the time ? a doctor ? ordered all public places closed for six weeks, including schools, churches and theatres.
The province?s infection rate was about half that of provinces such as Quebec and Saskatchewan, which did not implement such a closure.
The flu was brought to Nova Scotia by soldiers returning home from the First World War and fishermen from Gloucester, Mass.
Statistics Dr. Marble gathered by going through thousands of death certificates from that time show the greatest death rates were in Halifax, Sydney, Lockeport and Petit de Grat.
The first reported death was of a soldier who returned home to Margaree. He died Sept. 1, 1918, a couple of days after getting home. Within a week, 14 townsfolk were dead from the flu.
Dr. Marble said most died from pneumonia.
Typically, the flu killed in three to four days. One person died within eight hours. About 10 per cent of those who contracted the flu died.
"It was the worst epidemic humankind had ever seen," he said, killing as many as 50 million people worldwide.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/News/1150319.html
Doctor says Spanish flu of 1918-1919 spread quickly
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
Sat. Oct 31 -
BRIDGEWATER ? Dr. Allan Marble hopes to get both his flu shots next week because he knows just how deadly the flu can be.
He is writing a book ? his third ? on the history of medicine in Nova Scotia. He is the first person to take a look at the impact of the 1918-1919 Spanish flu epidemic on Nova Scotia.
"Nothing had ever been written on it," he said. ""Not one thing. It was the forgotten epidemic."
The Spanish flu killed 1,780 Nova Scotians in six months and a further 300 during its second wave beginning in February 1920.
"It was an H1N1 flu," Dr. Marble said, though it had different characteristics than the one that is currently leaving hundreds of Nova Scotians standing outside for hours waiting to be vaccinated.
There are different varieties of H1N1 and while the Spanish flu rapidly progressed, the current strain is not as violent. The cough and fever symptoms of the current H1N1 are milder with the recent sudden deaths of a young boy and girl the only indications of any similarity.
"Everyone is hoping it won?t be as virulent, but nobody knows," Dr. Marble said, adding it may mutate, but it may not.
Dr. Marble spoke about the Spanish flu epidemic at the DesBrisay Museum in Bridgewater this week. It?s the fifth talk he has given on the subject.
He said current concern over H1N1 has created more interest in what he has to say.
And there?s one question he gets everywhere: What should I do?
"The best advice anybody can be given is to go somewhere and completely isolate yourself from everyone and not put your hands on anything anyone else has touched and stay there until it?s over," he said.
Since that?s not going to happen, he recommends people get inoculated, wash their hands and follow the other precautions recommended by the provincial and federal health departments.
When the Spanish flu hit Nova Scotia in September 1918, the mayor of Halifax at the time ? a doctor ? ordered all public places closed for six weeks, including schools, churches and theatres.
The province?s infection rate was about half that of provinces such as Quebec and Saskatchewan, which did not implement such a closure.
The flu was brought to Nova Scotia by soldiers returning home from the First World War and fishermen from Gloucester, Mass.
Statistics Dr. Marble gathered by going through thousands of death certificates from that time show the greatest death rates were in Halifax, Sydney, Lockeport and Petit de Grat.
The first reported death was of a soldier who returned home to Margaree. He died Sept. 1, 1918, a couple of days after getting home. Within a week, 14 townsfolk were dead from the flu.
Dr. Marble said most died from pneumonia.
Typically, the flu killed in three to four days. One person died within eight hours. About 10 per cent of those who contracted the flu died.
"It was the worst epidemic humankind had ever seen," he said, killing as many as 50 million people worldwide.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/News/1150319.html