III. Increased natural resistance of persons exposed to infection.
Physical and nervous exhaustion should be avoided by paying due regard to rest, exercise, physical and mental labor, and hours of sleep. The evidence is conclusive, however, that youth and bodily vigor do not guarantee immunity to the disease.
The nature of the preventive measures practicable and necessary in any given community depends in a large part upon the nature of the community itself, as to population characteristics, industries, and so on, and upon the stage and type of the epidemic curve. For example, the measures to be adopted in a purely rural community would not be practicable or desirable in a large metropolitan area, nor would the measures desirable and feasible at the beginning or end of an epidemic be found those best adapted for the intervening period. The committee has found it impossible, therefore, to lay down any rules for the guidance of all health officials alike in preventive measures. The most it has been able to do has been to state certain general principles that in its judgment should underlie administrative measures for the prevention of influenza. The application of these principles to the needs of any particular community must be left for determination by the officers of that community who are responsible for the protection of its public health.
The preventive measures recommended by the committee are as follows:
A. Efficient organization to meet the emergency, providing for a centralized co-ordination and control of all resources.
B. Machinery for ascertaining all facts regarding the epidemic:
1. Compulsory reporting.
2. A lay or professional canvass for cases, etc.
C. Widespread publicity and education with respect to respiratory hygiene, covering such facts as the dangers from coughing, sneezing, spitting, and the careless disposal of nasal discharges; the advisability of keeping the fingers and foreign bodies out of the mouth and nose; the necessity of hand-washing before eating; the dangers from exchanging handkerchiefs; and the advantages of fresh air and general hygiene. Warnings should be given regarding the danger of the common cold, and possibly cold should be made reportable so as to permit the sending of follow up literature to persons suffering from them. The public should be made acquainted with the danger of possible carriers among both the sick and the well and the resultant necessity for the exercise of unusual care on the part of everybody with respect to the dangers of mouth and nasal discharges.
D. Administrative procedures: