The incidence of albuminuria for the epidemic in all its phases would be, from our figures, 400 in 994 specimens, or 40 per cent.
Red blood cells were present in 5 per cent. of the influenza cases, and in 11 per cent. of the pneumonias. This was always a microscopic observation, save in the case of a slightly smoky urine. Even microscopically the red cells were not numerous. We noted them at times quite early in the disease in some of the severe cases which presented epistaxis and hematemesis. Possibly one might consider the early presence of red blood cells in the urine as a condition analogous to those just mentioned, although we never saw anything suggesting free hemorrhage from the kidney. It is probably better to regard the red cells as a manifestation of an acute nephrosis of toxic origin.
Casts were found in 35 per cent. of the cases showing albuminuria. We are inclined to feel that this observation is somewhat low, but at the same time we have noted that in uncomplicated influenza one frequently sees albumin without casts. We were also impressed with the fact that casts were not as prominent a feature in the influenzal pneumonias as they are in frank lobar pneumonia of essentially pneumococcic origin.
During the course of routine examinations several transient glycosurias were seen. Their transient character was the outstanding feature. The quantity of sugar was very moderate—our figures were never above 1 per cent.—and the daily amount of urine was always within normal limits. Acetone and diacetic acid were absent. A few observations on the blood sugar showed a rise (.2 to .25), which readily came to normal with treatment. Clinically these cases were not classed as diabetes mellitus, but rather as a nervous complication of influenza, involving in some way the carbohydrate metabolism, probably through the central nervous system. One case of special interest, which is mentioned elsewhere, was the association of glycosuria with almost total blindness from a very intense optic œdema. Sugar (1 per cent.) was present on the day of admission, while only a trace was noted on the two following days, and from then on the urine was free from sugar. How many days the sugar had been present before admission to the hospital we cannot say, but we could trace the failure of vision back to almost the day of its onset, which was three weeks previous to our first examination. The eye symptoms were the only complaints. The patient had had a moderately sharp attack of influenza a little over two weeks before the first sign of failure of vision had appeared. We may add that the vision returned slowly to normal several weeks after admission. The urine and blood sugar were normal, on a general diet, over a period of one month while in the hospital. Unfortunately, we have had no further record of this patient regarding the urine, but her vision still remains normal. Cases of this type were observed in England after the 1890 epidemic, and are referred to in Allbutt’s “System of Medicine,” vol. i, on influenza. Our other glycosuria cases did not present changes in the fundus of the eye. The glycosuria and glycæmia were transient, and we feel that they do not represent diabetes mellitus. Most of the patients of this class had long since recovered from an attack of influenza, and came to the hospital usually for treatment of various nervous conditions, which at times simulated neuritis, or otherwise one saw manifestations of general nervousness, not unlike hyperthyroidism. In all probability, we were dealing with a hyperglycæmia associated with a hyperactive thyroid gland. So, after all, the glycosuria, even though rare, is not bewildering. Symptoms and signs of toxic goitre in direct relation to the epidemic we claim to have seen, and one is justified, temporarily at least, in having the thyroid gland father our transient glycosuria.
In relation to the positive sugar findings, we have had numerous negative examples of almost equal interest. Furunculosis is a very common sequel of the epidemic. It is well known that in furunculosis there is a hyperglycæmia, but no glycosuria and no acetone or diacetic acid in the urine. All our blood sugar readings were above the normal, and at times unusually high. They varied from .2 to .41. This last unusually high amount was in a young physician with recurrent furunculosis following influenza. There was no glycosuria at any time. Elimination of carbohydrates not only brought the blood sugar to normal limits in the course of a week, but also assisted in the cure of the furunculosis, but in a longer time. In all of this group we saw no incidence of polyuria or glycosuria.
Hematology
There is very little evidence, as shown in the literature, that special study on the blood during past influenzal epidemics has been made. A few references to alterations in the count of cells have been reported for the last epidemic (1890), but they are, as a rule, very brief statements. Cabot notes a normal leucocyte count in two-thirds of the cases, and a moderate increase in the rest. Several observers call attention to the leucopenia during the height of the disease, with a subsequent rise after the temperature has fallen to normal. According to Rieder and Herman (American Journal of Medical Science, 1893, cv. 696), the leucocytes were not increased in simple influenza, and only very slightly in the pneumonia following this disease. Herman also noticed a decline in the leucocytes in pneumonia as a fatal ending ensued. This finding was one of the few recorded for the 1890 epidemic. Emerson (Emerson Clinic Diagnosis, 1911, 558) found in influenza almost one-half of the cases showing more than 10,000 leucocytes, some even reaching 25,000. He further notes that early in the disease the count may be low, 3,000 to 5,000, but it usually rose sharply, to fall again when the temperature comes to normal. He lays stress on obtaining a leucocyte curve for each case in order to get a true picture of what changes occur. The past epidemic has brought out many observations on this subject. They vary somewhat, as is to be expected, but a common factor seems to be more or less basic—namely, a leucopenia or a normal count is the most significant single blood picture we have of uncomplicated influenza. Further, a leucocytosis is fairly generally, and we believe correctly, interpreted as evidence of a secondary bacterial invasion in this particular epidemic, and usually of the respiratory system. The leucopenia is as much a part of the clinical picture of influenza as it is of typhoid fever. Leucocytosis always means secondary invasion by other organisms.
During the recent epidemic the clinical laboratory department of the School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, has made 747 blood counts on influenza cases. In most of the cases blood counts were made as a routine, while repeated counts were done only on selected patients.
The following table indicates the leucocyte count for our series, comprising the epidemic in all of its phases. There are a few general points which appear striking that we may refer to at this time, and leave until later the discussion of the minor details. One-third of the counts, including, as they do, many cases of pneumonia, showed a leucopenia, while 70 per cent. of the total number fell under 10,000. This last group contains more pneumonias and other complications than simple influenza. But 5 per cent. of the cases counted showed more than 20,000. All of these undoubtedly had pneumonia or some other complication. Comparing this finding with our experience in the past before the epidemic with the pneumococcic lobar pneumonia, one sees at once that, as far as this type of clinical observation is concerned, the two pneumonias are totally different. The writer remembers but one case of lobar pneumonia which showed a persistent white count falling below 10,000. Certainly in this community lobar pneumonia and low leucocyte counts were unusual combinations until the present epidemic. Further, the evident depression of leucocytosis even where there was an actual increase is indicated by 95 per cent. of our counts being below 20,000. This leads us to state that the pneumococcus, although present in practically all of our pneumonias, produced in only a small percentage of the bloods we examined its characteristic increase. The toxic factor of this influenzal epidemic certainly causes a marked change in the white cells of the blood.
TABLE V