INFLUENZA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2614, 2 August 1923, Page 4

INFLUENZA.

ADVICE BY HEALTH DEPARTMENT. While in no way alarmed at the eases of influenza locally, the Department of Health, in view of the prevalence of influenza, in Otago and Canterbury, recommends the following advice: — Those who are able to do so will diminish their chance of contracting the disease by keeping away from all places of public resort, indoors and all crowded convevances.

All chilling of the body surface should be prevented. A simple throat gargle for ordinary use can be made by adding 20 drops of liquor sodae chlorinatae to a tumbler of warm water. A solution of common table salt, one teaspoonful to a pint of warm water, to which is added enough permanganate of potash (Condy’s crystals) to give the liquid a light pink colour is suitable either as a gargle or for washing the nasal passages. For the latter, a little of the liquid may be poured into the hollow of the palm of the hand, or into a small and shallow receptacle, and sniffed or drawn up the nostrils. Throat gargling and nose washing are recommended night and morning, or more frequently as preventive measures. Staying at work after the first symptoms appear is bad for the patient, and may be dangerous to others. Workers obviously ill should at. once be sent or taken home. At the first feeling of illness or rise of temperature, the patient should go to bed, keep warm, and seek medical treatment. The early stages of an attack are the most infective, but infection may persist throughout the illness. The patient should remain in bed at least until the temperature is normal. If the patient cannot occupy a separate room the head of his bed should, if possible, bo screened off from the rest of the apartment. Relapses and complication are much less likely to occur if the patient goes to bed at once and remains there till all fever has gone for two or three days. Much harm may be done by getting about too early. Chill and overexertion during convalescence are fruitful of evil consequences. The virus of influenza is very easily destroyed, and extensive measures of disinfection are not called for. Discarded handkerchiefs should be immediately placed in disinfectants, or, if of paper, burnt. The liability of the immediate attendants to infection may be naturally diminished by avoiding inhalation of the patient’s breath, and particularly when lie is coughing, sneezing, or talking. A handkerchief should be held before the mouth, and the head turned aside during coughing and sneezing. The risk of conveyance of infection by the fingers must be constantly remembered and the hands should be washed at once after contact with the patient or with mucus from the nose or throat. The patient’s recovery should be fully established before he returns to work. A “Times” reporter was informed on good authority on Tuesday that there is no cause for alarm, as the position is improving in Otago and Canterbury and the attendance at the local schools which had a lumber of eases, had also improved.