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Published on April 19 , 2005 - When Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), caused by a flulike virus, swept
through Asia and some other parts of the world two years ago, Thammasat
University lecturer Thanes Wongyannawa said he was “glad” that the disease had reminded Thai people of how vulnerable they could be to flu viruses.
“Influenza used to be the disease that was most feared because it killed extremely fast,” said Thanes, a keen student of medical history. “Today we seem to forget its devastating impact as we’ve put so much faith in medical technology, but when we look back in history we realise we’re not too far from killer epidemics.” The 19181919 Spanish flu killed up to 100 million people worldwide, including 1 per cent of Thailand’s 8.5 million people. The Siriraj Hospital Gazette of the time reported that half of Bangkok’s 500,000 residents fell sick and that people were dying at the rate of 72 a day during the peak of the outbreak. “The outbreak started in October in Songkhla and Pattani,” noted the medical journal. “Many chief provincial doctors and civil servants were among its victims. Of 250 prisoners in Pattani, 238 got sick. Within four days, the numbers of patients multiplied. Police stations and temples were turned into drug distribution units. The government spent Bt100,000 for aspirin and quinine. The flu finally subsided in March.” Nearly 40 years later, as memories of the Spanish Flu faded, a new strain of human flu virus surfaced in China. By April 1957, what scientists called the Asian Flu had spread to Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. “I called an urgent meeting with doctors,” the then deputy health minister Sawat Khamprakob, now 86, told The Nation. “We heard the influenza killed 700 people in Hong Kong and 1,000 people in the Philippines and was on its way to Singapore. I asked the doctors how to prevent it from coming to our country. They said we could not because the viruses were airborne.” The Asian flu arrived in Thailand in midMay. Dr Sman Vardhabhuti of the Ministry of Public Health wrote in his 1959 report that the actual number of patients could not be specified because of poor statistics collection. The only record was from hospitals, which reported 1.28 million cases and 118 deaths. “Even doctors got sick, myself included,” recalled Dr Prawes Wasi, who was a young doctor at Siriraj Hospital in 1957. “The flu discriminated against no one. Many royal family members also fell ill and died.” “I lost my sister to the flu,” Sawat said. “I went on a national broadcast, telling people to be alert and where they could get drugs if they fell ill. Funny that I myself fell sick. “But I was more worried about the rural areas; it was very difficult to get medicine to people there,” Sawat continued. “I had to dispatch three aeroplanes to drop medicines every day for a week. Villagers were excited to have drugs dropped to them from the sky.” Newspapers at that time reported some chaos on the ground. A bus collision occurred because one of the drivers had the flu but could not get sick leave. Doctors in hospitals also contracted the flu, leaving fewer hands to treat patients. People queued up to get medicines at health stations, schools were closed, many places including the Reporters Club at Rajavithi junction were transformed into temporary clinics. Mobile medical units were sent out all over Bangkok. There were also news reports that some people had stockpiled the drugs given free by the government to sell on the black market at Bt4060 per package, which made the deputy health minister furious. Fortunately, the flu subsided in July. “Knowing history makes us mindful of the dangers, and prepares us for what could come next” Thanes said. Nantiya Tangwisutijit The Nation |