Finkler has discussed the influence of occupation at some length:
“When we compare the statistics of the last pandemic concerning the influence of vocation, we see in the first place that those first and chiefly were attacked whose occupation compelled them to remain in the open air. This was shown especially by Neidhardt, who studied the influenza epidemic in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. His conclusions, however, were disputed by others. Thus, the prejudicial influence of exposure to the open air was not supported by the statistics of railroad employees in Saxony. Of those who were employed in the outdoor service, 32 per cent. became ill; of those employed in office work, on the other hand, 40 per cent. The statistics of the local benefit societies in Plauen show that the percentage of the sick among farm hands and builders was not greater than that among the members of other benefit societies who worked indoors. In Schwarzenberg the laborers in the forest who were working in the open air all day were affected less than others, and there was no sickness whatever in some forest districts. Lancereaux, of Paris, states that most of the railroad employees who suffered from influenza were those engaged in office work and not those who worked in the open air. The preponderance of influenza patients among the factory hands may be seen from a table prepared by Ripperger:
| A. In the open air. | |
|---|---|
| Occupation. | Per cent. attacked. |
| Workmen and laborers of Niederbayern | 7 |
| Railway officials in Amberg | 9 |
| Peasants in Niederbayern | 11.7 |
| Workmen in the Salzach-Correction | 20 |
| B. In closed rooms. | |
| Slag mills in St. Jugbert | 15 |
| Cotton mill in Bamberg | 20 |
| Cotton mill in Bayreuth | 33 |
| Sugar factory in Bayreuth | 36 |
| Aniline works in Ludwigshafen | 38.8 |
| Cotton mill in Zweibrücken | 50 |
| Tinware factory in Amberg | 60 |
| Factory in Schweinfurth | 62 |
| Gun factory in Amberg | 70 |
| Gold beaters in Stockach | 80 |
“Many peculiar records of how individual classes of occupation have fared are obviously to be explained by the fact that the infection manifested its action in very different degrees. Thus, among the workmen on the Baltic ship-canal only those became ill who lived in the town of Rendsburg; those who had been housed in barracks outside of the city were not affected. Of the 438 lead workers of Rockhope, which is situated in a lonely valley in Durham, all remained perfectly free from the disease during the three epidemics of 1889–92.
“Some occupations are said to afford protection against influenza. Thus workmen in tanneries, chloride of lime, tar, cement, sulphuric acid, glass, and coke works, are said to have escaped the disease with extraordinary frequency.
“We shall be compelled perhaps to agree with Leichtenstern in his conclusion that occupation and social position only in so far exert an influence on the frequency of the disease as certain occupations in life lead to more or less contact with travellers.
“Very remarkable is the proportionately small number of soldiers affected, at least in the Prussian army, where, according to the official record, the epidemic from its beginning to its end attacked only 101.5 per thousand of the entire forces.”
Comparison of morbidity by occupation necessarily includes so many variables and so many factors other than occupation that the results are decidedly unsatisfactory. An example is found in Jordan, Reed and Fink’s report of the incidence among troops in the Student Army Training Camps in Chicago. They found a strikingly different attack rate in the various groups studied. In the Chicago Telephone Exchange they ranged from 30 to 270 per 1,000, although the working conditions in the various exchanges were not materially different. In the Student Army Training Corps at the University of Chicago the lowest was 39 and the highest 398 per 1,000. The higher rate group was particularly exposed to infection while the lower, although composed of men of similar ages, living under similar conditions, were guarded to a considerable extent against contact with beginning cases.
Woolley has made an interesting observation on the effect of occupation: “The disease was no respecter of persons except that it was more severe in those who were hard workers. Those who tried to ‘buck the game’ and ‘stay with it’ showed the highest mortality rates. So, the non-commissioned officers and the nurses suffered more severely than the commissioned officers and privates.
“The annual morbidity rate per 1,000 was as follows: