1918 ‘Spanish grippe’
A few grim reminders of a flu outbreak almost a century ago in MinotBy DAVE CALDWELL Staff Writer dcaldwell@minotdailynews.com
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Fact Box
Resting in peace
Although there is no known grouping of influenza victims on the grounds of Minot's Rosehill Memorial Park cemetery, a quick review of its records reveals that victims of the 1918 "Spanish flu" are not very difficult to find.
Rosehill superintendent Bonnie Ripplinger said Thursday that she is not aware of any such notoriety surrounding any of the gravesites at the cemetery. Due to a new software system that was installed recently, it is difficult to search the database by date of death, she said.
However, a brief check of handwritten, ledger-style records uncovered a few graves from 1918 listing influenza as the cause of death.
"You could list the cause of death back then," Ripplinger said. "We can't do that anymore."
Armed with a map from Ripplinger, The Minot Daily News was able to locate two known gravesites of 1918 influenza victims in mere minutes, while the graves of several other 1918 deaths were located not far away.
Dave Caldwell
As the threat of the H1N1 influenza virus - commonly referred to as "swine flu" - settles over the Magic City, health officials and other public figures are scurrying to vaccinate, advise and in any way properly prepare people for any eventuality.
The state health department reported Wednesday that cases of influenza had more than doubled in North Dakota in the past week, and that most cases were likely the H1N1 strain.
Influenza scares are nothing new, as "avian" influenzas and other pandemic bugs have threatened populations countless times in the past.
But the current swine flu influx, although it might be widespread and serious, hopefully won't reach the level of devastation wrought upon Minot by the 1918 "Spanish grippe."
That flu arrived with stunning speed, overwhelming a public still engrossed in accounts of World War I splashed across the front pages of its newspapers.
The Minot Daily News and Optic Reporter, as it was known then, published an editorial Oct. 2, 1918, telling its readers that the best defense against the "grippe" was to forget about it.
"To be in constant dread of sickness is the surest way to contract it," the paper said, using an advancing German army as a metaphor for the onset of the virus. According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site, the Fargo Forum "boasted on Sept. 27 that the 'Spanish Influenza Hasn't Hit Fargo.'"
The site states all that would change in short order, as by Oct. 4, 1918, Fargo reported hundreds of cases, while only a day later Jamestown reported 1,000.
Minot's city health officer ordered all theaters and churches closed on Oct. 5 to slow the spread of the disease. That same day, a Foxholm priest and a Minot soldier stationed in Illinois were reported to have died of pneumonia, possibly as a complication of the influenza.
On Oct. 6, prominent young Minot businessman Harlan Shiek died at approximately age 32, having contracted the flu less than a week earlier.
Minot physicians advocated closing the first seven grades of public schools on Oct. 7.
By Oct. 9, "thousands" of cases were reported in Fargo, and Grand Forks was under siege from the outbreak.
Dr. H.G. Knapp, the Minot health officer, closed public schools on Oct. 10, but an accompanying story declared the situation "well in hand" a prediction that would not come true for several months and after many deaths.
Compounding the situation in those days was the fact that so many soldiers were being sent to camps where their close proximity would provide an easy target for the flu bug. Also, anti-viral medications such as Tamiflu and antibiotics to handle flu side-effects didn't exist at that time. Even the simple act of hand washing to help prevent the spread of germs would not be advocated for years.
The sinister factor in all this is that the 1918 "Spanish influenza" was preserved inside the lung tissue of someone who fell victim to the disease, and when analyzed it was revealed to be an H1N1 influenza a close relative of our current "swine flu."
So while the swine flu has certainly not yet run its course and many casualties are undoubtedly yet to come worldwide, it is perhaps heartening to remember that this isn't Minot's first experience with H1N1. And this time, 90 years later, health officials and the general public alike are better prepared to fight the flu.
