INFLUENZA.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16433, 29 January 1919, Page 7

INFLUENZA.

GAINING A HOLD IN" SYDNEY. quarantine IMPOSED. (By Ca.ble.—Preas AMociation.—' Copyrights SYDNEY, Januarv 28. There are eighteen cases of influenza in the city. MASKS IN DEMAND. ENTERTAINMENTS BANNED. (Received Januarv 28th, 9.35 p.m.) SYDNEY, January 28. Another case of influenza was sent to hospital to-day. The Governor has issued a proclamation closing libraries, schools, churches, theatres, public halls, and all indoor amusements. The inoculation depots are besieged, and thousands of people, lino the streets awaiting their turn. There is a great demand for ma«ks, and stocks are being quickly exhausted. The Governor set an example and attended the cricket match wearing a mask. . ... Tho Federal quarantine authorities havo declared New South W ales an infected State, and imposed drastic restrictions on communications with other States. THE MELBOURNE OUTBREAK. MELBOURNE, January 28. Two hundred suspicious cases havo been reported in Melbourne. RESTRICTIONS ON TRAFFIC. ' (Received January 28th, 9.35 p.m.) MELBOURNE, January 28. Victoria has been declared infected, and steps havo been taken to quarantine the State. Three hundred and twenty-seven cases are in hospital and twenty-six' deaths have occurred. Traffic between infectcd States is permitted, but none is allowed between infected and clean States.

VESSELS FROM AUSTRALIA. TO BE QUARANTINED FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, January 28. The Minister of Public Health said to-day that in view of the outbreak of influenza in Australia, the Chief Health Officer had recommended that all oversea vessels arriving in Ncxv Zealand from this date onward should bo quarantined for 24 hours in order that a thorough examination could be made in regard to all persons on board, to prevent any recrudescence of the epidemic in the Dominion. The Minister said ho regretted the inconvenience that must be causcd to the travelling public by this arrangement, but this course was considered necessary because the Government could not take the risk of having another outbreak Here, and precautions would havo to bo taken. TERRIBLE DEATH ROLL AT SAMOA. fPRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, January 28. A visitor who was at Samoa at the time of the influenza epidemic says that one-fifth of the population died of the disease.

The total number of deaths was be- • tween 9000 and 10,000 in the wholo group. In several instances whole villages were wiped out. The white people who died numbered 27, besides the members of the New Zealand garrison who succumbed. Among the victims were the whole of the well known Nelson family, except Noel Nelson. THE EPIDEMIC OOMMISSION. SCOPE OF ENQUIRY. (SPECIAi to "the fbess.") "WELLINGTON. January 28. Tbe order of reference for tho Epidemic Commission should be in tho hands of the Governor-General by this time, awaiting his signature before it may be published. One of the .nost interesting sections of the enquiry will be that dealing with the nature or the sickness, the source of infection, and the channel by whieh the infection came into this country. There are indications that the defence of the Department will be that tha bacillus did not necessarily come to this country in a shiD at all. The Minister has a theory chat it may be borne by wind or wave. He says that tho outbreak at the Chatham Islands canmt be satisfactorily accounted for by tho direct contact theory, and he is inclined to discount the opinion of experts that infection can be carried only by an infected person and by no other means. SAFEGUARDING THE PUBLIC HEALTH. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS." Sir. —Your article under this heading in this morning's "Press" is most timely. I was amazed to see in "The Press" the' day before yesterday that the Niagara's passengers had beon released at Auckland, although there had been influenza on board, and tho boat had come from Australia. Apparently tho only precautions taken were to quarantine contacts and actual patients, and another case has already brokon out amongst the contacts, yet the balance of tho passengers have already travelled perhaps all over the Dominion. How can this mothod of quarantine be effective? In what May is it possible on board a ship to ascertain accurately those persons who have been contacts with" influenza cases. As tho diseaso takes a varying time to incubate in different individuals, and as the patient is often capable of spreading infection before ho actually takos to his bed, it is wellnigh impossible to ascertain who has been a contact. Again, on board a ship a man might spread infection by simply coughing in a passage or sneering on deck (assuming others are in the close vicinity), and all this before he actually had taken to his bed with the disease. Surely it is not asking too much to insist that all boats from Australia should go into quarantine for a sufficient length of time to enable the Health Officer to pronounce that the period of incubation had been passed. I do not think the public will remain satisfied with the precautions of simply .jnaking the pa;sei-gers pass through tho inhalation ohambor. Inhalation cnambers have certainly worked wonders in reducing certain classes of diseases in the camps, but I have not seen it sugaosted that the inhalation chambers played any great nnrt In preventing the spread of influenza and certainly no data have beon nut* forward to enable any accurate oninion to be found as to their efficacy m the recent emaomic. Zealand is a country ideally situated for resisting the invasion of infection from without, and it would be an everlasting renronoh to us if we did not take_ to heart the lessons of tho recent epidemic, and emulate Australia's efforts (unfortunately unavailing to prevent tne scourge from obtaining » footing again. I write the above in no spirit of carp-

nig criticism, but with a very real dread that unless more stringent precautions be taken we may again have to endure that nightmare of November, 1918. The fact that ono attack of influenza does not confer immunity from anotaer. and that a patient may havo two attacks even during the same epidemic, makes the matter of the utmost importance.—Yours, etc.. MAURICE GRJ2SSON. JanuaTy 28th.