Translation

Kalke M (1935). The effect of a sweating cure on the course of influenza and its transmission among conscripts from different localities joining the Vuoksi Jaeger Battalion in 1933. Finnish Journal of Military Medicine, s28-34.

“When patients with influenza started to appear, they were referred to the companies’ emergency hospitals that had been established. I prescribed without selection every second patient a sweating cure, which was administered immediately after [the patient] was admitted to hospital. After administering the sweating cure, the treatment [of these patients] was similar to those who had not received the sweating cure, namely Bang’s drops and aspirin. The sweating cure consisted of: quinine 0.3, aspirin 0.5, Bang’s drops 25 drops, 15 cc spirit (91%) and a glass of hot tea. Because alcohol is frequently used as a toddy against influenza, I decided to try its effect as part of the sweating cure. The [patients’] shirts that got wet from sweating were immediately changed to dry ones of course.”

“186 influenza cases participated in my trial. There were many more cases, but I had to exclude patients who had angina or pharyngitis as well as influenza because otherwise it would have been impossible to distinguish the origin of the fever, is it influenza or the above mentioned diseases, so the total number of participants was smaller.”

Translation by Iris Pasternack