GLOBAL INFLUENZA REPORT: LONDON
Bill Smith is a Health Correspondent for the "The Times" in London. He sends weekly reports to the Irvine World News.
For the week of 22 October to 29 October 1918.
With an end to the war on the horizon London continues to be ravaged by the Spanish Flu. As reported in The Times "The general death-rate last week increased to 41 per 1,000 of the population per annum compared with 12 at the same period last year. This is the highest death-rate for over 20 years."1
As a result of the current drastic increase in the number of people inflicted with the flu, all sectors of Society are being gravely impacted. In many areas schools are being closed with the reasons for closure being vast, the primary reason being the effort to prevent the spread of influenza amongst pupils. In other areas schools are being closed due to a lack of healthy staff. However, some medical authorities believe that the closing of schools is unnecessary, as closing schools would "...simply release the children and allow them to congregate in places where the danger of infection is greatest. [At the moment] Efficient ventilation and segregation are considered the best means of fighting the disease."2 In other sectors of public service, telephone services have been impacted as the complement of healthy telephonists has decreased.3 In Sleugh, as well as in many other communities, post offices have been closed, as postmasters have not been available. Additionally, Omnibus services are starting to be affected and it is expected that the number of schedule changes will increase if the outbreak is not brought under control.
More concerning is that in several areas emergency services have been greatly reduced. As of Saturday 26 October "There were stated to be 1,300 members of the Metropolitan Police Force suffering from the disease yesterday, and in 25 cases it proved fatal.... Eighty-two members of the London Fire Brigade are off duty owing to influenza."4 Lord Nelson, of the Mayfair Community Council expressed the sentiment that he and his fellow residents are extremely distressed with the number of police and fire fighters inflicted with the flu, and that they hope that their fellow citizens will continue to be extra vigilant so that the services of these people will not be needed unnecessarily.
Many states and colonies across the globe issued detailed sets of directives to their residents on what exactly they should do if they come into contact with the illness. One such example is the directive issued by T.W.H. Holmes, the Secretary of the Victoria Board of Public Health in Australia. The directive details the symptoms, complications, treatment, and prevention of the disease. Something very common during the outbreak of any pandemic is the use of quarantines to separate the sick and the healthy. In fact, that is the first order for prevention of disease in T.W.H. Holme...
Inspired by the way comics were able to illustrate the events of WWII I decided to investigate to what extent did comic books influence American perceptions during World War II. Comics turned into an apparatus to exploit racial and social contrasts and outlet for wartime purposeful publicity. The Golden Age of Comic Books portrays a period of American comic books from the late 1930s to the mid 1950s. During this time, present day comic books were initially distributed and quickly expanded in notoriety. The superhero model was made and some surely understood characters were presented, for example, Superman, Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel.
Let’s discuss a little bit of comic book history for starters. The most iconic superhero in all of American comic book history has got to be Superman. He was created near the beginning of superhero comic books and debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938[1]. He would remain as the blueprint for many superheroes for years to come as the atypical white American male. But as the years go by there were comic book heroes that came out that go against this archetype such as Wonder
The influenza, also known as the Spanish Flu, is affecting roughly all of northern California economically and socially whether San Franciscans notice it or not. Several schools, churches, and buildings are closed due to preventive orders by authorities. Insurance companies and the Government are spiraling downwards financially as they become responsible for the victims of this deadly influenza. Moreover, ordinances mandated the wearing of gauze masks in public places.
The influenza pandemic of 1918 had not only altered the lives of thousands, but the habitual lives of family and work as well. The Spanish Influenza collected more lives than all of the casualties of war in the twentieth century combined. After the disease had swept through the nation, towns that once began their days in lazy, comfortable manners had begun to struggle to get through a single day. What started as a mild neglect of a typical fever or case of chills had escalated and grown at an alarmingly rapid rate to be fearsome and tragic.
Over the past fifteen years H5N1 influenza (also known as Avian Flu or Bird Flu) has become a common topic of speculation and debate worldwide, causing quite a bit of confusion about its possible impacts on our society. At this point in time it is generally recognized by the international medical community that Avian Flu is bound to become a pandemic, most likely within the next ten years. Research on Avian Flu and its effects have led many scholars to make grave predictions of major global turmoil while a small portion of medical scientists remain skeptical, believing we will have enough time to thoroughly prepare for the outbreak. The one thing that nearly all health professionals seem to agree upon is that the avian flu will surely have a large impact on the development of humankind. To truly understand the threat of this disease and what we must do to prepare for it, we need to look at the issue from multiple angles and consider what the spread of a disease so lethal and so prone to mutation would mean for our daily lives, health professionals, laws and government procedures, and of course the continuation of the human race.
This week, influenza and the war continue to affect Manchester, causing mayhem as well as celebration within the county. Manchester residents, from toddlers to elders, bravely face the influenza epidemic onslaught and stand triumphant with minimal fatality. Unfortunately, the influenza epidemic did impact Manchester's social, economic and military life but without detrimental results....
In the fall of 1918 influenza appeared for the first time in pockets across the globe. At first it was pushed aside as a case of the common cold. The influenza of that season, however, was far more than a cold. In the two years that this scourge ravaged the earth, a fifth of the world's population was infected. (1) Including twenty-eight percent of all Americans. In those two years an estimated six hundred and seventy-five thousand Americans died because of influenza. This was the greatest scare Americans had ever seen from a single disease. People between the age of twenty and forty were at the greatest risk of infection. Even President Woodrow Wilson suffered from the flu in early 1919 while negotiating the crucial treaty of Versailles to end the World War. The public health departments distributed gauze masks to be worn in public. Stores could not hold sales; funerals were limited to 15 minutes. Some towns required a signed certificate to enter and railroads would not accept passengers without them. (1) Influenza had killed nearly as many American servicemen as died in battle, ten times and over that number of American civilians, and twice as many people in the world as died in combat on all fronts in the entire four...
The influenza pandemic occurred in a manner that shocked many. It spread extremely fast which finally brought it to the attention of the government. The fact that World War I was going on pressured governments even more to do something about the pandemic (Hayes 390). The public health authorities in the United States created their plan of containment similar to what they did with the Bubonic plague. Their plan of action was to reduce contact between individuals. Their ideas were created based on their knowledge of how the virus spread which was through the air by coughing and sneezing. Since they came to the conclusion that the virus spread through the air, they tried to limit the contact between the effected and those not effected so they would not share the same air. Public gatherings and meeting places were seen as a threat and a great place for the virus to spread and so were closed down. In the United States, the Committee of the American Public Health Association, APHA, created measures that greatly limited public gatherings. They concluded that the gathering of bodies in a single space in which breath was shared was dangerous. Many places of entertainment such as theatres, saloons, and dance halls were closed. Even public funerals were banned. Schools were cl...
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth tells the story of a general who commits regicide in order to become king. Early in the play, Macbeth is conflicted as to weather or not he wants to kill his kinsman the king. In the first two acts Macbeth is not portrayed as a ruthless killer; he is a sympathetic character who succumbs to the provocation of his wife and a prophecy foretold by three mysterious witches. In contrast, Lady Macbeth is a manipulative, immoral woman. Her ambition is so strong that she is willing to do anything to see her husband succeed. However, in the third act things begin to change. The death of the king and lord and lady Macbeth’s rise to power catalyze profound transformation in their personalities.
“The Golden Age of Comics” PBS. PBS, 2011 Web. Retrieved on February 11 2014 from http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/the-golden-age-of-comics/
Every child in the United States has heard or read the Marvel and DC comics books. If you have not then you have probably have heard of their characters like the famous star spangled hero, Captain America, or the Dark Knight himself, Batman. Both Marvel and DC has influenced the children and adults of American in its darkest times. The great wars affected many by its poisonous grasps, and its victims sought comfort with the antidote provided by the marvelous illustrators and writers of comic books. Now their cinematic counterparts are here to inspire the 21st century. The Marvel and DC cinematic universes have similar content, they both have unique characteristics that set them apart.
...he cornea is deformed so that its surface is oval instead of spherical. Light rays are distorted at the entrance of the eye. This produces a blurred image and is known as astigmatism. To correct it, glasses are given a nonspherical or cylindrical curvature. Cross-eyes and walleyes are produced when both eyes do not work together because of weakness of the eye muscles.