In the public interest, one of the nations Major Health Centers and cooperation with the American Medical Society and the United States Public Health program bring you the silent invader, and up to the minute reproach about asian influenza. How do you do . I am car lives, for our history, mankind has been forced to wage many battles in order to protect the nation against misfortune, and even possible exchanging. Sometimes, these wars have been, well, they have been catastrophic. The capacity of 1918, when influenza epidemic swept through our old nation as well as the entire world. The nation against nation or humanity against the forces of nature when man has opportunity to prepare himself. The battle against disease have found man and the unfortunate position of having to combat this enemy, only after it has and for infiltrated his community and in fact much of the population. Recently, you have become aware of a pandemic, or a worldwide epidemic which originated in the far east and is now known as asian influenza. Because of the efficiency of the United States Public Health service, and the world health organization, a detection system similar to that of the aircraft spotter has been established throughout the world and has enabled us to recognize and follow the process of asian influenza as it circles the globe. Health authorities expect an outbreak in the fall and winter and the United States, but not in the 1918 epidemic. Now, the man upon which soldiers rests the responsibility for preparing the United States is doctor royal eve ernie, sergeant general of the United States Public Health service. Doctor bernie, i imagine you and your staff have gathered a lot of information on asian flu, everyone i know has had and talked about influenza, but i dont think anyone knows what it is. It is one of the upper respiratory infections, Something Like a cold, only it is caused by a flu virus, and the difference between the asian influenza and the influenza that we have been having through the past few years is that this strain began in the strain of the virus, in hong kong and spread from hong kong to the rest of the world, including the United States. Every year at the influenza is a problem in the community, im sure it is in yours too. Why are we suddenly so concerned about it now. Thats a good question, we are concerned because in the other countries in which it has appeared, the attack rate has been 15 to 20 of the population and this attack rate occurs in about four to six weeks. For example, and metropolitan pittsburgh, 1 Million People we had this flu strike here, youd have 200,000 people who would become ill and a four to sixweek period, and this would make a tremendous impact upon the economy of this particular area. Understandable. We all heard outbreaks appear, how far has it spread . Its spread all over the United States. The first cases occurred, surprisingly enough, and the east coast, rather than on the west coast. Among Navy Personnel at Newport Rhode island, and then the second group occurred a few days later and both navy and civilian personnel in san diego. That time, the 1st of june, it has spread in localized outbreak and the boy Scout Jamboree in pennsylvania, to louisiana and almost all of the states in the United States. I did not realize that was asian flu that hit that, it was asian flu . Thats right. From what ive been able to learn, not many people have died as a result of asian influenza in the rest of the world, do you think the same will hold true in the United States . We have the belief now based upon the experience of asian influenza and the other countries and south america at the present time where it is an epidemic proportions, and as a result of the outbreaks in this country so far that it is a mild infection and with a very low mortality rate, and we believe that it will continue to be both a mild infection and have a very low death rate. Is the possibility that asian flu might turn into, if i can use the word, a killer . Well, that is a possibility of course, and that has happened in proceeding years when we have had epidemics, back in 1888 when we had a large epidemic and then many of us recall the 1918, 1919 epidemic, when we had a mild influenza epidemic in the spring of 1918 and then in the fall, followed by serious complications and then another wave hit us in the february or march of 1919. At that time, as you may recall, and that whole period we had about 20 million cases in the in and states and about 850,000 deaths. But i would like to add the conditions are quite different now than they were then. In the first place, we have a mild strain of influenza, not a very light strain. The second place, we have the antibiotics to combat any complications that might arise, which we did not have in 1918. With the disease spreading so rapidly, what now are we doing to combat it . Well, actually, we are trying to do three things. One is to develop as rapidly as possible, the only preventive agent that we have against and solutions, and that is the vaccine against this particular strain of the virus, and that is being done in six of the large pharmaceutical manufacturers of this country, the strain was collected by an alert, the u. S. Army medical team in tokyo, and send back to this country and then given to the u. S. Public health service, distributed to the manufacturers and they in turn actually began to manufacture the vaccine before we had the first case in this country. So, now, our job is to get more of that vaccine available and to get the public to use it. Number two, we have to be prepared to take care of the individuals who become ill, and we have been working since early june with the American Medical Association, the American Hospital association, taking care of voluntary groups and others to prepare, or taking care of those who become ill. Finally, its a matter of having an alert, one that will be aware of the facts without being unduly alarmed. And certainly, in this program of the Westinghouse Broadcasting company, who have an alert but not and alarmed public. Well, doctor bernie, you and your Public Health service prove, if i can use that word, prove, have certainly seem to make Great Strides in order to get us ready for this possible epidemic and such a short time. Well, we have had a lot of help in doing this, it has not been a one man organization, and as i said previously, we have had the full cooperation and support of the American Medical Association, and both the educational, as well as the medical care part. And then, and working with the manufacturers to get them to manufacture the vaccine and stop other activities and, the bell of their staff. I think we can all be proud of the industry in which we have in this country. Another example of the know how and the expeditious way in which Free Enterprise can do a good job. The vaccine, the virus was given to the industries about the middle of may, and within three months the vaccine was being released to our National Institutes of health, seeing a safe and effective vaccine. And that seems to be a good example of both teamwork and a very expeditious work by manufacturers. Another example of how this teamwork illustrates that this is not a one man show is, we have with us this evening, at like to present to you, james crafter, socially dean of the university of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, who will discuss how asian influenza has spread throughout the world. Thank you very much, and doctor craft tree is with us as well. How do you do . We have been discussing the fact that this agency has covered a lot of territory in a short time, but i would like to know how did it all get started . Well, the exact point of origin of the influenza virus was not known but the current epidemic had its beginnings, as doctor bernie indicated, in hong kong and singapore. This was in early april. By mid april, the disease had become the league epidemic in both of these cities and remained so throughout the rest of the month. The hong kong and singapore the disease rapidly, in early may, moved through the island of formosa. As many as a half Million People were attacked within a relatively short time. From from us up, also during the month of may, the disease next made its appearance and borneo and japan. And from the major shipping centers, from these several areas the disease very rapidly scattered into such widely separated places as malaysia, indonesia, india, guam and the philippines. The first cases, also in late may, the disease was reported as far away as australia and four through San Francisco. The first appearance of the disease in the United States was on june the 2nd. This date is important because it means only a short six weeks from the time the first cases were reported in china there, kurd in the United States. That indicates the great rapidity with influenza and influencelike diseases can spread over the world. By mid june, this disease had practically circled the globe, including southeast asia, southwest asia, the middle east, europe, australia and north america. Late in june, the disease made its appearance and north africa and produced by the muslims returning from their pilgrimages to. So finally, in late july, and an early july, the disease made its appearance in chile, south america. So, in three short months every continent on the globe had been involved in this great pandemic. Doctor crap tree, it had been reported on ships and rock to San Francisco and several cases were diagnosed among our fleet in newport, rhode island. Wouldnt have been comparatively simple to isolate these and kept them from coming in at all . Unfortunately, its not so simple. For the region that quarantine against influenza is not affected. That has been possible for all the cases on board the ships who have been isolated. It wouldve had little effect on the actual spread of the disease, because, undoubtedly, there were many more people on board the same ships who by reason of a more recently acquired infection would have shown no symptoms whatsoever of the disease and, therefore, they could not have been readily identified if they were passing through a quarantine station. We had approximately 25,000 known cases in this nation. Are they all bunched in one area of the United States, or has the virus spread all over . The virus is spread all over. We have some maps here in the studio that the Television Audience can see, which graphically shows how the disease has spread in the United States, starting from Newport Rhode island and the west coast. During the month of june, the disease had spread to Salt Lake City utah, in iowa, Cleveland Ohio and a few cases along the east coast. If we could have the map from showing the spread in july, we see that the disease, starting from these original centers, had literally moved in every direction throughout the country. And then the final map speaks for itself in that it indicate that this virus has become very well seated in practically every state in the country, certainly, and every major region of the country. I think i have a good idea of how influenza spreads, doctor grab tree, but im still wondering about the virus itself. What kind of an animal is it . Id like to prevent to you one of the staff of the National Institutes of health who is the associate director of our National Institute of allergy and Infectious Diseases and ask him to answer this question any other scientific question you might have had. Thank you. Its nice to have you, take your time and come see as tonight. Im going to ask but, its going to seem like a silly question. I would like to know, what is this virus . Like what is this virus . Well, to begin with, influenza is a specific disease caused by a specific virus. This virus was first isolated back in 1931 by the Rockefeller Institute and then subsequently in 1933 it was shown to cause human disease by a british scientist. Now, we know that there are three Major Classifications of virus. Taipei, type, type c. And a new type, a fourth type, the has been described in japan. While this a, b, c and the you said it being related to type a. Thats what requires me. The type a influenza causes epidemics and pandemics at intervals throughout recent years. Now, the asian type of virus, type a, and it causes the kind of disease which we have had in recent years. However, the epidemic composition of this asian type is different from that which we have described in the more recent strains, so that a person who is immune is probably not immune through this new strain and, thus, the new strain that has been developed and others have no effect on this. I guess thats the reason i did not get into medical school. So a new vaccine has to be made a new each time a new strain comes on . That explains why we dont have this vaccine in stock. That is right. I think everybody has been hearing about the asian flu story, but if so, how . I think he would know. Sometimes its a little difficult to diagnose it, it has the symptoms, maybe are similar to those caused by other respiratory viruses, or actually respiratory bacteria. So to be absolutely certain, we must use Laboratory Methods to make a specific diagnosis. Now, these are generally of two kinds. One is the actual isolation of the virus, or the second is the demonstration of antibodies, which appear in the blood of a person who has the disease. That often takes lets time and does not help for a patients position very much, but it is important for us to know what kind of disease and to discover what the type is. And to follow its course. Naturally, the thing most people are concerned about is the vaccine, first of all. Particularly, how it works in the system. It seems to me that being made from real asian influenza virus, wouldnt there be some danger and being vaccinated . No, there is no danger. It is completely killed during the process that it is being prepared. The vaccine is made by injecting this virus and to fertile chicken eggs, where the virus grows, and then by processing the fluids, the vaccine is made by the manufacturers, it requires about 40 days to manufacture and test this vaccine. Doctor bernie, i can breathe a lot easier knowing about how this vaccine is made and that there is no live virus in it. Im certainly impressed with the way that your Public Health team operates. I mentioned before, i want to impress that on you for my viewers as well as myself. Up till now, i think that youve given me and the rest of the audience a complete picture of the asian flu. Id rather not called a complete picture, because you love that one of the most important groups, obviously the asian influenza, that is the American Medical Association, which represents the physicians throughout our entire country. We have worked with them from the beginning of this, and we have had complete support and understanding from that group, and i would like to present to you the secretary and general manager of the American Medical Association. Thank you. Its a pleasure to have you coming here tonight, i believe your home court would be chicago . Thats right. Can you explain about this possible flu epidemic . And planning for a flu epidemic, the medical profession has three responsibilities. Keeping the doctors informed on the progress of the disease, spearheading the mobilization of all medical personnel who will be concerned with caring for the state and informing the public on what to do once the virus has struck. The doctors are being informed about asian influenza through our weekly journal, and through many scientific periodicals published by the various states and county medical societies that are being encouraged to cooperate with the Public Health service and detecting the presence of the virus and its spread, and being provided with laid reports on the technical aspects of the disease. And the administration of the vaccine. The American Medical Association has asked every local medical society to organize a committee of those who would be involved in an epidemic so that an agreement can be reached and advance on such matters has vaccine priority, the handling of hospital a mission procedures and so forth. If an epidemic does strike, the medical profession will use every means of communication possible, pamphlets, newspapers, radio to tell general public what to do. It is important, we feel that we know the symptoms of the disease in home care of the flu victim. What are the symptoms . Well, the asian influenza is characterized by a rapid onset, high fever, often as high as hundred and 40 disease. Aching muscles an extreme weakness. A recognition of symptoms is important early and an epidemic. Once the asian flu takes hold in the community, you know what it is. When you do get asian flu, how do you care for it at home . Ideally, your doctor should be called, and his instructions followed. However, in an epidemic situation, you may not be able to give your case a complete attention. These are things to remember. First, keep away from others. Second, go to bed. Third, drink a lot of fluids, water and fruit juices, and fourth, if your doctor recommends it, take a fever reducing agent and, fifth, call your doctor if any unusual symptoms develop. What do you mean by unusual symptoms . Well, primarily, those that would indicate the onset of some long involvement, they have a cough, rapid breathing, bloom is of the lips. Thank you very much. And now ask doctor bruni to summarize our discussion. This fall and winter, we may see serious outbreaks of influenza in the United States as a consequence of the epidemic which began last april in the far east. Unlike similar instances in the past, however, we believe that the size and severity of the epidemic can, be minimized in this. Thus, it is the opinion of experts that there is no need for hysteria or panic. The influenza is concerned, in the first place, we are prepared for the invasion and, in the second place, we now have the means to a new vaccine to help prevent this infection. It can best be summarized in this manner, there is a pandemic, a worldwide epidemic of asian influenza, which has attacked most nations in the world. Tests have shown that it has definitely reached the United States, attacking both military and civilian personnel. The virus causing this influenza has been isolated and recognized as a member of the familiar type a virus. And effective and safe vaccine has been developed as a preventative and is currently in production by six pharmaceutical houses in this country. At the present time, asian influence can best be classified as a mild virus disease which attacks that many people but had a very low death rate. Experts say that it is probable that an epidemic will occur in this nation sometime between late fall and early winter. The first time in history, a nation, our own United States is in the fortunate position of being ahead of an impending epidemic and thus have had the time to organized for an all out offensive against asian influenza. There is always the possibility of an increased appearance of the infection as the in influenza increases. However, a new vaccine has been proven effective in control studies conducted by the military and should be an excellent weapon to combat the disease if the epidemic progresses. When the vaccine is made available for public use, the Public Health service and the American Medical Association hope that the nation as a whole will participate in a voluntary program of vaccination against the prevalence of this influenza. Rest assured that there is no need for alarm, panic or hysteria. If there is a change in the situation, you will be informed immediately through the Public Education channels of your American Medical Association, the United States Public Health service and state and Territorial Health offices. This program, by the way, which is the result of a combined effort of organized medicine, private industry and education is an excellent example of the type of Public Information and education that we are setting up. In closing, i would like to urge you to make use of the new vaccine when it becomes available, knowing meanwhile that you will cooperate with Public Health authorities if its deemed necessary to set up those groups responsible for Public Health and safety and must continue their important services. The others of us are temporarily incapacitated by asian influenza. Doctor bernie, im sure i speak for all that has been with us when i say how much i appreciate all of you gentlemen taking your valuable time to come here so that we might be better informed on asian flu and what is being done about it. Participants on tonights show have been doctor li roy bernie, Surgeon General of the United States Public Health service, doctor james crab tree, associate dean at the university of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Doctor nolan davis, director of
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