Memories of 1918 flu epidemic linger in Santa Fe
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the influenza pandemic of 1918, known as the Spanish flu, that killed one out of every 20 people in the world and over 1,000 people in New Mexico.
As the flu swept across the country, officials in New Mexico tried to minimize the threat, thinking it might damage the booming tuberculosis sanatorium industry, which had enticed thousands of eastern Anglos to move to the state, according to a 2016 book, Chasing the Cure in New Mexico: Tuberculosis and the Quest for Health by Nancy Owen Lewis.
“With our salubrious atmosphere and great distance from disease-infected ports, there is little likelihood that the Southwest will be visited by the epidemical malady,” predicted a Santa Fe New Mexican editorial on Sept. 28, 1918.
My grandfather, Pvt. James Winnegar, was recovering from the removal of a lung when he was diagnosed with TB and sent to Fort Bayard from the Camp Kearny infirmary in San Diego.
The Army had earlier established a sanatorium at Fort Bayard, and by the time my grandfather arrived, the patient population had reached 1,500 men — exceeding the facilities’ capacity of 1,000.
Conditions at the Marine sanatorium at Fort Stanton were even more dismal in 1918, with 50 percent of the patients infected with the flu, resulting in 54 deaths at the facility.
By the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918, private sanatoriums across the state were filled to capacity with TB and flu victims.
The St. Vincent Sanatorium, now the Drury Plaza Hotel in Santa Fe, had influenza patients under portals and in every nook and corner of its fine building, according to the Lewis book.
There were no antivirals in 1918 to treat influenza, and infections were complicated by fatal pneumonias, combined with overcrowding and poor sanitation conditions, according to a September 2017 article in the Scientific American.
Those who were unable to afford sanitarium care moved into boarding houses and private homes, including my grandfather and discharged soldiers from the military sanatoriums.
Cultural beliefs held that Hispanic and Native American families should remain in close contact with their sick relatives to overcome illness, according to historians quoted in the Lewis book.
After decades of intense advertising by the Bureau of Immigration, many native New Mexicans were now convinced of their natural immunities.
The New Mexico Tourists Shrine, published in 1882, claimed that the whole Territory has always been astonishingly free from epidemic disease, but during the 1918 flu epidemic, New Mexico had the second highest tuberculosis death rate in the country.
Even in the mid-20th century, most Northern New Mexico respondents to a 1960 Public Health Service survey still didn’t believe that “tis,” the name given for tuberculosis, was contagious.
This year, reported flu-like symptoms in the state are nearly double compared to the same time last year, according to the New Mexico Department of Health.
Alarmingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported recently that the rate of adults getting vaccinated against influenza had dropped 3.7 percent, meaning just a third of adults, children and pregnant women are protected.
The CDC recommends getting a flu shot, as it may prevent or lessen the symptoms. Individuals with chronic health conditions, children under 5, adults over 65, Native Americans and pregnant women are all at high risk for developing flu-related complications, according to the CDC.
Two types of antiviral drugs, Flumadine and Tamiflu, have been shown to be effective against influenza viruses, if taken within 48 hours of the onset of the illness, according to the CDC.