EPIDEMIC OF 'FLU AND HEAVY COLDS SWEEPS DISTRICT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 65, 5 July 1950, Page 5

EPIDEMIC OF ' FLU AND HEAVY COLDS SWEEPS DISTRICT

Brought on by the recent change from mild weather to freezing winter temperatures and now back to warmer degrees colds and a mild type of influenza have been worrying many people at Whakatane and in the surrounding farming districts. Cold attacks have been encouraged by a damp atmosphere and wet feet and wet clothes have added to the quota. A few staffs in some business firms and shops have been affected. Most people have suffered the influenza in at least a mild form and those who have been luckier have been caught by heavy colds. In some homes the first victim has started a chain reaction and the virus has swept right through the house causing some “cotcases” or much discomfort for a day or two. A number of children have been kept from schools in the district. Although the Health Department is aware that heavy colds and ’flu are prevalent, it has not been notified of any infectious outbreak. Fortunately, the outbreak does not appear to be serious. The symptoms of the unidentified virus now at work are eadache, feverishness, pains in the limbs and in the back of the neck, sore throat and sometimes stomach trouble. • Some victims find themselves in bed for a day or two and then recover but a feeling of intense depression is an after-effect.