well’. The foregoing is a very modest account of a major accomplishment by Charles
Armstrong in his initial excursion into infectious disease investigation.
Influenza on Kelleys Island
Armstrong supervised the study of another outbreak in Ohio that was a model of the
application of epidemiological methods to the investigation of infectious disease
outbreaks in an isolated community (11). The performance of this study was an additional
factor prompting the invitation to his assignment to the Hygienic Laboratory in
Washington, D.C. Influenza became epidemic again in parts of the United States in early
- On February 4, 1920 Acting Surgeon General J. C. Perry (5) sent Armstrong c/o
State health Officer, Columbus, Ohio the following order: “Sir, Bureau telegram of
January 30, 1920 as follows is hereby confirmed. ‘Proceed Washington reporting to Frost
for influenza investigations’! In accordance with the above telegram you will proceed to
Washington, D.C., reporting to Surgeon W.H. Frost at the Bureau for temporary duty in
connection with studies and investigations of influenza. Etc ---.” The return to
Washington, D.C. was to attend the conference of Public Health Service officers in
February 1920 for discussion of the desirability of making a series of intensive
epidemiological studies of influenza in rural communities. The conference decided that
the epidemiological aides in the various states should undertake such studies as
opportunities might present. On the recommendation of State Health Commissioner, Dr.
A.W. Freeman, the conference selected Kelleys Island, Ohio for making a study because
of its exceptional isolation and because of the severity of the 1920 influenza epidemic