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The three consecutive epidemics have given opportunities for observation of the
disease, and experience in its mode of extension has indicated the prophylactic
measures necessary.
Influenza is a dangerous infectious disease, most probably caused by extremely
microscopic parasitic germs, capable of being wafted in the air. The infectious
germs may instantly light upon the surface of the eye, or be washed through the
tear-duct at the inner corner of the eye into the nose, or be sniffed into the nos9,
or pass by the back of the nostrils into the throat, or be iuhaled into the mouth,
throat, or lungs. From the time of infection the disease may take from one to
seven days to develop, but most frequently not more than two or three, and the
sufferer continues to throw off infection for at least a week, and probably longer.
An infected person may suffer so slightly from the disease as to be inobservably
affected, or so severely as to undergo intense fever, nervous prostration, and death.
The contagion is most probably thrown off from an infected person, mainly by the
breath and exhalations, and the discharges from the eyes, nose, and mouth;
resembling measles, whooping cough, and epidemic pneumonia in this respect.
In times of epidemic prevalence of the disease, persons suffering from head-ache,
giddiness, pains in back and limbs, languor, suffused eyes, flushed face, and
feverishness, should at once seek advice as to the nature of their complaint.