Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 302, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1918 — MEXICO HIT BY “FLU” [ARTICLE]

MEXICO HIT BY “FLU”

Most Fatal Epidemic in History •of Country. Shortage of Necessary Drugs One of Reasons for Heavy Death Rate. Laredo, Tex —According to reliable Information brought here by arrivals from various portions of Mexico, the present epidemic of Spanish influenza in that country has been the most fatal epidemic In the history of Mexico, the death-rate exceeding that caused by any previous epidemic- of typhus, yellow fever or smallpox. The undertakers of Mexico were in .the influenza epidemic without practically any supply of coffins or caskets on hand, and even the old custom of renting caskets for burial purposes only, after which the body is removed at the grave and placed in a plnO box, had to be abandoned, as some wealthier class were buried in caskets that were formerly u,sed for rental purposes only. In Mexico City it is estimated that at least 40,000 cases of influenza wfre in that city the middle of October, many cases developing into pneumonia nnd causing several thousand deaths, these latter being mostly among the* poor people who contracted the disease and were compelled to lie down on the dirt floors of their jackals and there contracted pneumonia and died. A big death rate also occurred among the better class, despite the -care given them. Tn .Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Torreon, Tampico, Saltillo and Monterey the number of cases of influenza were heavy, while the death rate was likewise heavy. In Vera Cruz over

one-third of those stricken with the influenza are said to have succumbed to subsequent pneumonia. In many places heavy death rate In Mexico was due to the shortage of aspirin, quinine and other necessary drugs used in the cure of Influenza.