Volume 16, Number 5
National Pet Dental Health Month is coming up
www.northhavencitizen.com
Friday, January 29, 2021
Exploring 1918 flu epidemic
SWEET BIKES
By Joy VanderLek Special to The Citizen
As the planet’s population is currently swept up in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cheshire Public Library invited Natalie Belanger from the Connecticut Historical Society, in Hartford, to revisit the time of the 1918 influenza outbreak. The webinar, held Jan. 21, was sponsored by Friends of the Cheshire Public Library.
The Animal Haven has a little known fact for you to chew on: we can buy two more years of life for some of our pets by paying attention to their teeth and gums. “February is National Pet Dental Health Month,” says Dr. Arnie Cary, DVM, and board member of The Animal Haven, “and we pet lovers need to help our dogs and cats (yes, cats too!) keep their teeth and mouths healthy. Untreated dental disease which shows up as bad breath, tartar, infected gums, and loose teeth, can cost our pets dearly.” According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, by the time our pets are three years old, three out of four have some periodontal (gum) disease. How does this happen? It’s not much different from what happens in human mouths: nature has created a nice “seal” of gum to tooth. This seal keeps bacteria from invading our pets’ bodies. Once plaque (soft, bacteria-laden film) starts to build at the gum line, that seal begins to break down. Gums become inflamed and begin to recede. More plaque develops and hardens into tartar. Eventually bacteria make their way into the underlying bone and the blood stream. In dogs or cats with “bad mouths,” those See Pets, A11
North Haven Garden Club members Gerri Giordano and Cindy Golia decided to leave the club’s painted bicycles out year round. Right now the bicycles are decorated for Valentine’s Day. Giordano decorated the two bicycles on the green and Golia took care of the bike at Todds Pond. The other bicycle, located at the corner of Broadway and Elm, also will be decorated for Valentine’s Day. Photos by Cindy Golia
While influenza has always been around, the 1918 flu was unusual in a number of ways, Belanger said. This flu was far more contagious than the average flu and it hit teenagers and young adults very hard, she said. The average age of those who died was 28. “Normally, the flu is most dangerous for the very young and the very old. This flu hit those in the bloom of youth.” It is estimated a quarter of the world’s population was affected by the virus, said Belanger. To be conservative and guess 50 million people were killed, that number is still higher than the number of soldiers killed in both world wars, she said. “We will never really know how many people died in the pandemic,” Belanger said, adding that it’s unusual not to have statistics. However, at that time recordkeeping, as we know it today, was not being done in many areas of the world. The way in which the 1918 outbreak was handled by ofSee 1918, A2