Kewaunee County Pandemics: 100 Years

 

For nearly two years, the U.S., and the world, have been focused on COVID-19. A little over one hundred years ago, the world and the U.S. were focused on the Spanish Flu, and, at the same time, diphtheria. In 2021, media reports COVID rates daily. One hundred years ago, the means of reporting was through the weekly newspaper. In November 1917, Algoma Record published disease information and requirements provided by Algoma Health Officer, Dr. W.W. Witcpalek. Witcpalek listed the eighteen diseases required to be reported. Diphtheria was third on the list, ranked after measles and smallpox. Diphtheria was one of the eight requiring quarantine. Witcpalek cited state statutes while also pointing out fines or imprisonment for non-compliance. 

Diphtheria has been around far longer that COVID, which is new, or the Spanish Flu of 100 years ago. Diphtheria was firs described by Hippocrates in the fifth century BC while it was Aetius who defined epidemics near the end of the 5th centery AD. Diphtheria was there for centuries, however it took a Frenchman to give it a name in 1826. It seems to have appeared before 1800 in the U.S. but never had a real name. Between 1921 and 1925, diphtheria was a four year epidemic in the U.S. A 1925 dogsled race - known as the Serum Run - was a 674-mile trip from Nenana to Nome, Alaska, for the purpose of getting diphtheria antitoxins to prevent an epidemic in Nome and the surrounding area. It was that "Race for Mercy" which inspired the Iditarod just short of 50 years later.

During the 1920s, the U.S. was seeing frm 100,000 to 200,000 cases yearly, resulting in 13,000 to 15,000 deaths. Wikipedia says diphtheria peaked in 1921 when the U.S. saw 206,000 cases. But what is it? Diphtheria is a disease caused by bacteria that makes toxins that cause swelling of the mucus membranes which can obstruct breathing and swallowing. It can enter the bloodstream to cause heart disease and even death.

It was immunizations and better living conditions that nearly eliminated the spread to two cases of diphtheria in the United States between 2014 and 2017, however one hundred years earlier, in August 1916, Wisconsin medical officers were astonished that among the 4,000 Wisconsin men who left Camp Douglas, there was not a single case of diphtheria, typhoid, smallpox, mumps, or any other disease.

It was an un understatement when the Record on January 3, 1878 reported, “Misfortune never comes single handed.” The paper reported that on the previous Thursday, Mr. and Mrs. C. Martin of Carlton lost three children from diphtheria. The children were buried in one grave, only to be followed by the deaths of two siblings. How does a family cope with the deaths of five children almost overnight? The Record further reported that 20 children in one school district died within two months.

During May 1888, Record carried a reprint from the New York Herald saying it was the opinion of many Brooklyn doctors that diphtheria abounded where railroad tracks were salted to melt ice and snow. The doctors cited 40% of the cases from January 1 and March 23 were reported by those who lived on railroad lines. Dr. Metcalf, chair of the Dept. of Contagious Diseases, said there were additional cases from homes on side streets about 50’ from the tracks. He did say further study was necessary.

Three cases of diphtheria were reported to the Ahnapee health department in mid-April 1891, however of the three, two died just before the paper was published. As there were no new cases, the health officer on April 16 decided schools could reopen the following Monday while churches and lodges would be allowed to resume services and meetings following the Saturday after that. The health officer hoped all persons would use due precaution to prevent further spread of diphtheria.

Pierce, Casco and Ahnapee towns were reporting new cases of diphtheria in late November 1894, prompting the Record to call for every possible precaution to be taken. Then the public school in the English Settlement was closed because of diphtheria prevalence. Lottie Teweles was the teacher. A few days earlier, it was reported that Joseph Fensel’s family, in Casco, lost their 8 year old daughter who was buried on November 6. On November 18, the Fensel’s 6 year old daughter died of the same disease.

Sheboygan Health Officials declared the epidemic was over a few days before Halloween 1896. Dr. Blocki, the health officer, was criticized for keeping diphtheria conditions from the public while the school superintendent was also criticized for keeping schools open.  Blocki felt that refusing to release information quieted speculation and mis-information that inflamed people. Both Blocki and the superintendent felt children were beter off in school because schools were more sanitary than homes. The papers didn’t appear to chronicle what was certainly outrage among Sheboygan mothers!

William Kuehlman was the only juror from the northern part of the county a year later, in late October 1897. Judge Gilson released Kuehlman from jury duty due to the proximity of diphtheria near his home. Had it not been for disease, the judge would not have released him. Forestville had diphtheria cases. Its schools were ordered closed but opened again. In the community recently renamed Algoma, there were five new cases but no deaths. Schools were open and precautions were taken. When the quarantines were lifted from August Klatt and Mel Perry’s residences, the paper said no new cases had been reported in the previous week. But then came December when School District # 4, on the north side, did not open because of diphtheria. However, it was expected that District #4 would open before Christmas in the old building near the south branch bridge.

Handshakes are few and far between in the COVID environment, and they were in 1897 when just before Christmas the paper reported that New York “men who know all about medical science are forbidding handshakes because fingernails are in the bacilli of diphtheria, smallpox, scarlet fever and a hundred other diseases.”

Just as in 2020-2021, when all around the world folks were looking for alternative treatments, in early 1898 it was Hood’s Sarsaparilla that was touted as American’s greatest medicine. A testimonial from Mrs. R.E. Anderson of Cumberland, Maine, said it cured diphtheria in her 7-year-old boy who was paralyzed and suffered terribly. The Andersons and their doctors had given up all hope before starting a 3-month regime of Hood’s which restored the boy’s health. A few months later, the Record admonished parents to take care not to mistake the symptoms of diphtheria for mumps until the disease was developed. Early symptoms of throat and neck swelling were peculiar to both and vigilance was paramount.

In early 1899 the paper announced, “Medicine is making such strides that the cure of today is supplanted by the cure of tomorrow. Loudest voices soon disappear and the best physicians are slow to accept new innovations.” The paper went on to say about the only way by which progress can be made is experiments with human life, which was most risky. How many times was the same thing heard one hundred years later.

One of the 1899 experiments was called the chlorine remedy, tried with great success on twenty-four people in Brooklyn’s Kingston Hospital. Of the twenty-four cases, there were twenty-four cures. According to the New York Times, the New York Board of Health did further testing, while, in the meantime, physicians were sending patients for treatment, which was the inhalation of chlorine. Although there were professional differences, people had little concern. The Baltimore American pointed out that if chlorine worked, there would be general rejoicing.

While chlorine inhalation was on the cusp in New York, Town of Lincoln residents were fightened by the outbreak of diphtheria. District 2 school was closed and people were kept under quarantine. There was one death, however many were said to be “very low.” Some were suggesting high diphtheria rates in the Lincoln resulted from a dry season. It was said that dug wells with little water were full of gasses and sediment, giving rise to the germination of diphtheria, typhoid, and scarlet fever. A few months later. Dr. Moraux was attending several cases in Montpelier.

Both the Record and the Enterprise kept readership informed on disease in the county, the country and even across the world when possible. An article datelined Berlin: May 1902 was something to take note of. Reports were that the use of Berin’s diphtheria serum produced Berlin’s lowest ever diphtheria death rate. Berlin saw 469 deaths in 1901 where such rates had ranged between 1,00 to 2,600 a year before the Berin’s serum treatment.

Then came 1913 when Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy was advertised as a quick way to cure cold. Colds had ramifications. The company claimed their cough remedy could always be depended on, was safe and was pleasant to take. Medical authorities pointed out that children could more easily develop diphtheria, whooping cough, scarlet fever and consumption, or contract other contagious diseases if they had colds. A good selling point.

1914 was a bad year. Anna Jindra was ready to return home from visiting her aunt when she received a phone call telling her to stay away. Her family was quarantined. Within a fewweeks, Nasewaupee’s John Buechner lost two daughters to diptheria and then he died, but of paralysis.

The most astounding news came a year later when the Record ran a reprint from a May Philadelphia Record. Its story of the presence of lingering germs after 50 years was big news. Both health authorities and an attending physician said diphtheria germs stayed in the walls of a Philadelphia home for a half century. How on earth was it possible? At that time the family who owned the home had several deaths. As it happened, the new owner, Raymond Miller, scraped away a heavy coat of whitewash before papering the walls. Miller’s whitewash refuse was thrown outside after which warm, damp weather was said to have revived the germs, “which had been imprisoned under the whitewash.” If there were other such reports, Algoma Record didn’t follow up.

The paper did, however, did discuss diphtheria “media” in August 1916 when the State Laboratory of Hygiene announced better methods for managing it. The new process meant the state could return reports from 18-24 hours earlier. Over hundreds of years, the known world looked for disease treatments. Some that worked were coincidental. A week before Christmas 1919, the Enterprise carried a Medical News article about treating the sick safely with plain remedies. The  Medical New article also ran an ad looking to hire “Smart Agents.” One wonders what their plain remedies were.

There were always ways to encourage the public to do something about disease and Friday May 2, 1923, was it. When the day was designated by Wisconsin's Governor McGovern as both Arbor Day and Fire Prevention Day, State Fire Marshall Purtell said fire prevention was also disease prevention as Arbor Day called attention to all the waste blown about since the previous fall which was an invitation for conflagrations and favorite disease-breading places. Purtell mentioned the heavy yearly disease toll and called for sanitary conditions. He went on to say family dogs and cats sunned themselves in the rags, straw, and leaves before taking their germs around the neighborhoods and into the homes.

Despite all the cures – charlatan and medical efforts – diphtheria remained. When the Record reported 151 cases in 1925, it recalled diphtheria sweeping through Kewaunee County 40 or more years earlier taking a toll on nearly every family, sometimes taking all the children in the family. New treatments were beginning to work wonders in halting the spread.

Almost 50 years before Philadelphia authorities touted chlorine treatments, the British Medical Journal, (January 8, 1859) called attention to Stephen S. Alford and “Chlorine in the Treatment of Diphtheria.”

Alford felt every medical man should record anything that works in diphtheria. He felt such remedies should remove the poisonous growth to prevent its reforming and thus destroy its poisonous character. Alford claimed if an application of silver nitrate did not destroy the growth, it had to be constantly reapplied. He was experimenting with chlorinated soda used every 10-15 minutes to wash away throat fungi and mass with constant gargling. He said the use of chlorine counteracts poisons to destroy the virus before it spread to other family members. Other doctors agreed with Alford’s assessment of efficacy.

The same issue of the publication carried another chlorine article, “Chlorine Inhalation in Diphtheria” by C.F. Hodson who claimed chlorine inhalation was successful in hopeless cases and was a useful treatment for severe forms of diphtheria.

Chlorine has a variety of uses from disinfecting water to being part of sewage and industrial waste sanitation. Chlorine is a fabric bleaching agent. Chlorine is often called bleach and was in many of the products merchants were unable to keep stocked in 2020 and 2021. We smell chlorine in swimming pools and on hospital linens, and hand sanitizer when we are out and about.

While the two pandemics are different, there are similarities. As Abraham Lincoln said on December 1, 1862, “We cannot escape history.”

Sources: Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record, Algoma Record Herald, Kewaunee Enterprise, Wikipedia.