[PANDEMICS] Report of a Case of Infectious Disease. (Melbourne, January 1919).

A$125 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

[Melbourne : Government printer, 1918]. Proforma document, 110 x 210 mm, headed Report of Case of Infectious Disease , with manuscript entries made by Dr. V. Reid, Richmond, dated 31 January 1919, reporting a case of Influenza in a patient named Wm. Cuttries, aged 27 years, residing at 65 Type St. Richmond, who has had symptoms for 2 days; verso with printed address panel The Town Clerk [OR] Shire Secretary, Richmond [in ms.] ; the completed form was folded and mailed by the doctor to the Richmond Council, where it was endorsed Entered 3/2/19 ; a very good, clean example. The so-called Spanish flu pandemic, which would eventually claim over 20 million lives worldwide, arrived in Melbourne at the very end of 1918. Victorian doctors were already obliged by law to report every case of an infectious disease when a patient presented with symptoms. However, wider measures were implemented to stop the spread of the Spanish flu: On 30 January 1919 the Victorian health minister issued ‘Influenza Emergency Regulations’ under the Health Act 1915. Public meetings of more than 20 people were prohibited, travel in long-distance trains was restricted, public buildings were closed and NSW closed the border with Victoria. People were encouraged to wear masks in public places. The imposition of a strict maritime quarantine in late 1918 and early 1919 helped pause the spread in Australia. Despite these measures, Melbourne public hospital statistics for the fortnight ending mid-April tell a stor

• Binding: Hardcover

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