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Show Don't ,Be Misled; the "Flu" Is a -Real Menace, i .,- Dr. Beatty Declares!; Ey T. B. BEATTY, M. D., State Health Commissioner. ; j ' ;! TN view of the serious menace to the people of Utah arising from the epion the part of the public in the measures which have been inaugurated to combat it, certain surprising statements in the morning paper attributed to Dr. Woods Hutchinson cannot be permitted to pass un controverted. I; The said statements are dangerously misleading, not in accordance with the facts, and calculated to seriously interfere with the efforts of the health authorities of the state. Reference is especially made to the assertions that there is no cause for alarm, because the disease prevails here in mild form; that the favorable climate will prevent serious consequences; that children are only slightly suseeptible to the disease and are seldom attacked; that the disease will run ;! its course until all susceptible people have contracted it, irrespective, of the !; observance of preventive measures; and that the closing of jplaces of amuse.'; ment and other public assemblies are measures in which he has no confiK deuce. The facts are that it has been demonstrated that the disease is usually relatively mild in character on its first appearance in a communitV, rapidly i assuming greater virulence as it spreads; that people should not be deterred by the apparent mildness from adopting early and stringent measures of prevention; that climate has little or no influence on the spread or virulence of the infection; that children are extremely susceptible to the disease and v !' should be rigorously protected from possible exposure to infected persons; that public health authorities throughout tjie country are a unit in their confidence in the life-saving efficiency of proper preventive measures, the merits of which have been abundantly proved by experience; that it is ;io less than criminal to promulgate the unfounded and grotesque notion that notj' withstanding all precautions, certain individuals are foreordained to have he disease or to die from it, these persons being those who are susceptible and therefore cannot escape. The circumstances compel a statement of the further fact that Dr. Woods Hutchinson's reputation as a "medical authority" has acceptance among the lay readers of his somewhat sensational newspaper articles rather than among the members of the medical profession. ! ;! X demic of influenza and the importance of full co-operation I; !; ;! ;! ! ! I ! ! !; j j ! i !; ; ; ! ; ! ! j ; j! ! ;! ; 1; ! ' J j ; j 1; "', j! ! I j |
