Eyeless on Campus: CORONAVIRUS, CALIFORNIA-- Invasive Species Strikes Golden State--ASIAN FLU, 1957

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"...the attitude over a major epidemic rapidly went from ambivalence to a 'definite probability.' .."

   (DEN@UNR)-- Still in its early stages of becoming a pandemic, the new strain of the pneumonia causing virus is getting a foothold out West as Hilda Flores reports for KCRA/3;
   "SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. --Health officials confirmed Sunday afternoon a second person has tested positive for coronavirus in Santa Clara County. Officials said the second case is not related to the first case reported earlier in the week. The second case is an adult female. Both people had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, officials said. The woman is a visitor to the U.S and arrived Jan. 23 to visit family. Officials said she has been home since she arrived, except for two times she went to seek care. She was never sick enough to be hospitalized, officials said."(KCRA)
   However the LA Times has just reported a third case, bringing the total to six statewide. (LA Times) A brief review of how California weathered the Asian flu in 1957 might give insight into what to expect from the new strain as it will inevitably pay a visit.

   First reported in The North Hollywood Valley Times, the cases were found in Santa Ana

"Orange County Health Officer E. L. Russell yesterday reported two cases of flu apparently similar to the Asian type were discovered in patients here.
   "The disease is said to be mild but with it carrying a threat of complications which has resulted in several deaths in the Far East.
   Russell said the two local influenza cases were being kept under close observation to head off a possible epidemic of the disease." (Valley Times)
On that same day, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported on its front page that the Asian flu was discovered on the cruise ship President Cleveland as it docked in San Francisco, Several passengers reported ill but the entire ship was quarantined. (Press Democrat)
   Caution to the wind didn't last long as a major spike in cases in Northern California placed the state on notice as what was in store.

   "Two Yuba-Sutter area girls were victims of the respiratory disease--suspected to be a form of 'Asian flu'--which hit over 100 Girls Staters at Davis this week.
   Betty Poulson, daughter of Mrs. George W, Pulispher, and Kathryn Summy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Summt, are reported after recovering after a bout with the disease which struck more than one-fourth of the 391 High school teenagers attending the 1067 Girls' State session."

   From a handful of cases in southern Cal to over 100 in two weeks in Northern Cal is an indicator of just how invasive the species is.

   "The disease which struck the girls was described by Dr. Thomas Y. Cooper, staff physician, as similar to the flu that has swept Asia for months.
   The girls were conducting mock local and state governments on the campus of the University of California College of Agriculture, where Dr. Cooper is a staff physician."
   "There have been a few scattered reports of the flu in California and the girls came from all parts of the state." (Appeal Democrat)

   Even as newspapers of the era reported no serious concern for the virus in the United States, the same newspapers of the day were reporting 300 deaths related to it in India. The Long Beach Independent verified in July suspicion of the virus in the Girls State outbreak. (Independent) The virus has been recovered from blood samples of the girls infected. The Oakland Tribune reported on the same day that the Asian flu was responsible for outbreaks in boys' summer camps. (Tribune)
A day later, The San Rafael Independent broke the headline that recruits at Camp Pendleton had contracted flu of the "so-called Oriental type."

"The base medical officer said approximately 10 percent of the trainees in the infantry training regiment have contracted infections. The incidence in other units was described as about 3 per cent.
   Approximately 40,000 men are stationed on the base.
   The announcement said the increase was noted in the past ten days and all cases have been mild with recovery in two to four days." (SF Independent)
   What is apparent is not how mild the infection was but how rapidly it spread. To go from two isolated cases in Santa Ana to a battalion of recruits a month later indicates the lack of measures to contain it. Certainly that was the middle of the last century but considering the state of medicine then, there is reason to believe that it was adequate enough to at least be able to prepare for an epidemic, if unable to stop it.
   Again, the North Hollywood Valley Times reported that, according to San Diego health officer, Dr. J.B. Askew, more than 12,000 cases were reported in the county for the month of July, 1957; four of those died. In addition, Rear Adm. Robert M. Gillett, chief medical officer for the 11th Naval District reported 7,000 cases of military personnel affected by the Asian flu. (Valley Times)
By then, the attitude over a major epidemic rapidly went from ambivalence to a "definite probability." A month later, Surgeon General Leroy E. Burney announced the release of over 300 thousand centimeters of flu vaccine even though The Santa Maria Times reported it had not been notified of any shipment. (Times) It was the equivalent of 500 thousand flu shots.

   Several days later, in a D. Scheyer, Napa Journal headline that read "FEAR FLU EPIDEMIC, SERUM DUE," the Napa area county director of public health, Sterling S. Cook, announced the vaccine would be available ASAP.
   Dr. Cook explained that two types of serum were available; the first was monovalent and was specifically designed to counter the effects of the virus that swept across the Far East. The second was polyvalent, protection against a variety of strains.
   "He said that since early June 49 outbreaks of influenza-like illnesses have been reported in California, and of these, the outbreaks in San Diego, Fort Ord Army Base, Girls' State of Davis and Juvenile Court in San Mateo County have been identified as caused by influenza A of the Asian strain. An additional 14 outbreaks from widely separate areas in the State are currently under study." (Napa Journal)
   He cited one unverified report of 100 Camp Fire Girls and a counselor who got sick on July 20 but a strain wasn't obtained.

   This is only part of the story for California. Worldwide, the cases mounted to hundreds of thousands. If there are extreme quarantine conditions currently being put in place in Italy, then there is a reason for it citing the number of cases of Asian flu that struck the nation in 1957. No place was safe, Baghdad was hit, Pakistan suffered, many other places came under the influenza influence. California's epidemic, though mild, was enough to alert the state as to just how out of control, like its devastating wildfires, a seemingly non-toxic event could become catastrophic overnight.

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Sunday, February 2, 2020

CORONAVIRUS, CALIFORNIA-- Invasive Species Strikes Golden State--ASIAN FLU, 1957

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