Doctor Says Daily Soda Gargles Will Avert Flu
Evansville, Indiana, US, January 19, a prominent army physician recommends daily gargles of hot soda water, ordinary baking soda, dissolved in hot water.
A gargle of mild soda solution – two or three times a day – a teaspoon in a glass of water will be found efficacious and prevent infection.
DOCTOR SAYS DAILY . SODA GARGLES WILL AVERT FLU EVANSVILLE, Ind., Jan. 19.
AS a preventive against a recurrence here of the deadly influenza epidemic of last year a prominent physician recommends daily gargles of hot soda water, ordinary baking soda dissolved in hot water. Flu just now is epidemic in Chicago, and the present unsettled weather is ideal for its further culture. A gargle of a mild soda solution two or three times a day a teaspoonful in a glass of water will be found efficacious and prevent infection. jThe physician referred to was in the height of the flu epidemic last year, in charge of an army hospital section that combatted influenza and this was the method used with best results.
January 19, 1920. Doctors had implemented many treatments to try to save patients during two horrific waves of Spanish Flu in 1918 and 1919. Now into a third wave, from experience they speak with authority on what works.
Influenza and coronaviruses, as most other viruses are known to be pH sensitive. One hundred years ago, medical people believed this deadly Flu was caused by a new bacteria, and recognized that such did not flourish in an alkaline environment. They were well acquainted with the medicinal marvels of bicarbonate of soda.
(In southern Ontario) my tenants from India were sent home to quarantine when they were developing symptoms and have a positive test, in March. They were not given ANY health instructions but decided to use baking soda both as a gargle and a drink. The symptoms were gone in 1 1/2 days. They finished the quarantine, but were not ill. Curiously, after talking to the folks back home, the grandparents said that THEIR grandparents told them they had used baking soda during the Bombay Flu ( Spanish Flu). Even more curiously, the present generation are mixing in their daily hot tea; turmeric, ginger lemon and baking soda.
This is terrific information, begging the question: How pervasive worldwide was baking soda at that time, and how well-known as a medicinal agent? Was it a factor of baking/cooking practices, influence of Arm and Hammer, taken through the British Empire? New Zealand and Australia were on board. You can find articles written in America that were reprinted in their newspapers.