The term influenza was first applied to the disease because
early Europeans believed that the widespread nature of flu epidemics were
caused by the movement of the planets, moon and stars. The word was adopted
into English in 1743.
Doctors in 1918 tried various methods to cure patients of
the flu. These included prescribing whiskey or cigars, asking them to gargle
salt water, dousing patients with ice water or bleeding them. Some tried a
surgical procedure to extract pus and blood from the chest cavity, however this
procedure was almost always fatal.
Source: Iezzoni, Lynette. 1999. Influenza 1918: The Worst
Epidemic in American History. New York, NY: TV Books, L.L.C.
No comments:
Post a Comment