INFLUENZA’S GRIP.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1883, 28 September 1918, Page 1

INFLUENZA’S GRIP.

VARIOUS OUTBREAKS

Letters from Sydney state that an epidemic of the influenza known as “Spanish” has caused some deaths there. There is a fear that returning soldiers have brought germs of the influenza that has raged through several countries of Europe and Britain. The Wellington District Health Officer, Dr. Wall, stall's that no reports from port health officers have indicated that they have observed any signs of severe influenza among passengers from Australia. Of course, as the early symptoms of influenza are similar to those of common cold, it would be difficult to diagnose incipient inlluenza without a bacteriological examination. . Dr. Watt, as a result of reading English authorities, gives an opinion that (he general epidemic of influenza in England has been severe, not because the disease is a new kind, but because the war conditions, including the diet, have reduced the disease-resisting strength of the public. The British Medical Journal of 27th July states that the influenza pandemic has been on the wane both in Britain and on the Continent. The deaths in the Old Country have been mostly among older patients with lungs already diseased. Dr. Walt remarked that outbreaks of inlluenza had occurred in several districts of New Zealand during the past month. The township of Waione, near Dannevirke, was very heavily smitten. Tie believes that the disease is not a new form of influenza, but a recurrence of the old trouble, which has remained epidemic since it reached New Zealand nearly thirty years ago,