INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 123, 18 February 1919, Page 6

INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC

COMMISSION OPENS ■ ; NIAGARA MATTER * By Telegraph—Press y: ;■:■■■:;' ' Auckland, February^. The Epidemic ; Commission opifiied in Auckland '{inlay. 'Tlie-'president, Sir John ..Denniston,. said,,that they had arranged 'to. open the 1 commission in Auckland, as ,;it /ivas apparently itheiplaco■' where ,the recent epidemic was first recognised in its virulent form, and the place where matters described in tho commission as. "all matters connected with the arrival, in New Zealand waters of the and the 'Makura in • respsct : to their bearing on the introduction or the extension of the' epidemic" actually occurred. They proposed,in the first place to take'evidence as'to the condition of the health of Auckland in reference to influenza before and, up ,to the arrival of the Niagara. ;' - ! ....... , i Dr. - Thomas .Hughes, District - Health :Oftictr...at ;said that until recently influenza was not. a. notifiable disease. Certafn medical officers attached to the Department had furnished reports showing that influenza had been present in Auckland throughout the year, and was most. in. evidonce from Jime onwards., A case,that Had come under his : notice particularly was that of a middleaged woman whose symptoms wero those of a severe form of influenza, including the loss.-.of, her voice. .This case had' come undei'-his- notice tbei'eame day that ho went 1 abo'aVd the Niagara. In answer to the chairman, Dr. Hughes said the general'health of Auckland for the year up to the time\)f the epidemic had been good, except with regard to diphtheria and spinal meningitis, of which ■ there iad been an increase as compared with 1917. . .

Dr. Maguire, Medical Superintendent ,of .the Auckland. Hospital, stated that, prior to October 12 (the date of tho Niagara's arrival) no case.of influenza had been admitted to the hospital for four months. There were certainly no deaths in the hospital from influenza, for some ,1 months before that date. Nothing but serious cases would be sent to the hosv, pital. He had. not. heard of cases of. ': pneumonic influenza outside'the. hospital up to October 12. The first cases of in--fluenza were admitted to the hospital on ~ October 12, when 28 patients , were : j brought .in from the .Niagara.. As far Jas hie. could remeinber they were all '.: members of the crew, Three of the cases were .'. suffering, from a .'severe \fovm. of ■ influenza in bronchial pneumonia.. On ...October i 3 six more patients were admit- ,"■. ted from the Niagara, one of them:being .. very' , bad with bronchial pneumonia. On ■October 21 two nurses from the. Niagara .'• .were admitted. These were all the cases, '■ totalling 37, that had .come, to the hos-- ', ; pital from the Niagara. ...Only, two of the Niaga'ra- patients .'.died,; one''of,.them -. • a nurse, nnd.the other.bne.of the.crew. \\ The latter was an'interesting'casei It '.^'.sces^that .of■.W.firjmaii'.'on the boat, a i.,;returned soldier who had been gassed, and .'was therefore- more! liable to ' contract the disease. The total-number of "■•admissions, for'.influenza to the hospital " 'during the epidemic/ from October 12 .. to December .1C was '845. The- number

;v '' that period ainong these !'.' patients;'was,' 188. There was. an ordin- '■'' ary case of influenza 'adniitted to. the ; hospital on October 121'. 'Besides those •from the Niagara' Dr.. Maguire said that he had heard that influenza was''present, at Narrow Neck Camp before' October 12, and it was , decided to.obtain '.evidence on. this point.'. '.'/.. ":'■'. .

The Court then adjourned,