HOW TO AVOID INFLUENZA

Photo: from 1919 publication Life and Health

The illustrated Life and Health publication dated May, 1919, and published by the Review and Herald Publishing Assoc. was a very important work that gave the gift of information to a troubled world. This was the time during the Spanish influenza outbreak. We want to share with you the public domain digital reproduction of the publication because we are entering a time of uncertainty once again. In sharing this publication and the other items on this blog entry, we do not intend to cause any concern, but are only sharing the information. In our opinion, it is not necessary to become alarmed over the outbreak of swine flu or any other possible pandemic, and it is not necessary to be afraid. God is prepared for such conditions and has answers for his people. He hopes that his people will also share the information with others that they might know of his love for them.

What's Featured In the Life and Health publication?

Every Home a Sanitarium
How To Avoid Influenza
The Value of Sanitarium Treatment In Respiratory Diseases
Home Treatments
The Aftermath of Influenza
Food Conservation: A Variety of Recipes (See the Nut Loaf recipe included in this blog entry.)
As We See It: Influenza and It's Deadly Work
Questions and Answers: Pierce's Remedies; Albuminized Iron; General Tonic - After-effects of Influenza - Mushrooms; Brain Food - Rheumatism - Soreness of Chest - Boils...the rest of the publication is not included in this digitized reproduction.

The above topics are covered by medical doctors of the time and these articles share great wisdom that is timely for today. By in large, God has given instruction on how to survive and in some cases even avoid outbreaks of influenza. This issue of Life and Health was published as a result of the Spanish flu outbreak. It has illustrated instructions given by medical doctors on how to treat influenza.

Go right to the download section!

Included below is an exerpt of the publication:

EVERY HOME A SANITARIUM

- Testimony of the Spanish influenza epidemic and what they learned from the experience.

"Last summer we heard of the epidemic over in Europe - Spanish influenza, they called it, or the 'flu.' Languidly we read of its rapid passing from one country to another, stopping not for frontiers, customs officers, mountain ranges, rivers, or even for No Man's Land. Wherever man was congregated, there followed the epidemic. If we thought at all about it, we though, 'Well, it's not over on this side, so why worry?' And worry we did not; neither did we make any preparation worth while for the unwelcome visitor.

"Finally we heard of cases on incoming steamers; then of an outbreak in the vicinity of Boston. Still little or nothing was done. Our motto evidently was, 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.'

"Then things began to move rapidly. The epidemic, noted in one city one day, would be reported fifty, one hundred, or two hundred miles off the next day. If men were taking their leisure preparing for the disease, the disease was taking no leisure. It was getting in its best work while the people were doing little or nothing in the way of prevention.

"Finally there was an awakening, and health authorities began to do things. In one city certain drastic regulations were put into effect; in another city entirely different regulations. The effect of these regulations was problematical. New York City made no attempt to stop public gatherings, and yet in the first wave of the epidemic it had a milder run of the disease, with a smaller proportional mortality, than a number of Eastern cities that closed schools, churches, theaters, and all public assemblies. It has not been satisfactorily proved than y of the precautions taken materially prevented the spread of the disease which had been successfully implanted throughout the community, doubtless by numberless carriers, before anything worth while had been done in the way of prevention. So we can say, as regards this disease, that preventive measures absolutely failed, and the only course left was to combat the disease itself by careful, nursing and medical care.

"And here again, we failed. Doubtless some have died notwithstanding the best care; but many died because they did not have and could not get adequate care. At the height of the epidemic, hospitals were filled to overflowing, physicians and nurses were overworkd - what were left of them, for many had gone to the army, or to the Red Cross overseas.

"Many families, with one, two or more down with the 'flu,' were unable to secure a nurse at any price; and unfortunately in most cases ther4e was not a person in the family who had any first-hand knowledge regarding the treatment of the sick. This, probably, - the lack of early care, - was the chief cause tof the high mortality; for with adequate care from the first, patients usually recovered. Sanitarium experience has shown a mortality of practically nothing from cases received early, with similar good results from outside cases visited by sanitarium physicians and nurses. Many private nurses have had as gratifying results with early cases.

"So we feel justified in attributing the very high mortality of this disease - much higher in the aggregate than our total loss in the war - very largely to our unpreparedness. And of all the lessons the war should have taught, the most important is the folly of unpreparedness. Lack of preparedness cost England, and France, and America a hundred times what proper preparation beforehand would have cost. And the epidemic of influenza has doubtless cost thousands of lives which might have been spared had there been a more general knowledge of some of the first principles of home nursing and the care of the sick.

"It is not too late to acquire such preparedness. The influenza epidemic is not over by an means. A wave may strike here or there almost any time, for some months to come. Besides, a knowledge of home nursing is valuable under many other conditions, and will help to lessen the time lost in illness, and to diminish doctors' bills. If intelligent home nursing could take the place of a lot of patent-medicine drugging, the net result would be a great gain healthwise.

"The purpose of this issue of LIFE AND HEALTH is to acquaint its readers with the general character of the influenza epidemic, the precautions necessary to prevent is spread, the methods of home treatment, the prevention of complications, etc. These articles should serve the family as a small textbook on influenza." G.H.H. (G. H. Heald, M.D. - Office Editor)

Public domain electronic reproductions were provided byNorthern Lights Health Education

These public domain digitized reproductions are distributed by the Media Library. They were originally obtained from http://mybirdflu.info/Northern Lights Health Education. They are provided for your personal use and health education.

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