INFLUENZA

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 459, 17 February 1933, Page 2

INFLUENZA

SPECIALIST SYMPOSIUMS ON PREYENTION AND CURE. USE OF YACCINES. The January issue of The Practitioner, writes a medical correspondent of the London Observer, contains several important articles on the subject of infiuenza, and these afford some guidance for the public in view of the present situation in which a mild epidemic appears to he developing. Dr. H. Morley Fietcher sums up the present evidenee on the nature of th'e infecting organism by stating that neither bacillus nor virus has been definitely proved to be the Cause, although on the whole the idea of a "filter-passing virus" is most popular. The infection, whatever its nature, eriters th'e body of the victim by the mouth, nose, and possibly the eyes. In view Of the last-named, it is interesting to note that in Franee in the 1918 epidemic, Calmette proved that soldiers wearing spectacles were less frequently attacked than the army as a whole! With alf these portals available it is not surprising that during ari epidemic it is almost impossble to avoid infection. Dr. Morley Fietcher urges the importance of prevention, stating that lack of ventilation and a heated, stuffy atmosphere increases the risk of infection. The importance of adequate ventilation is also stressed in another articl'e by Dr. G. F. Friend, the medical offieer of Christ's Hospital, who shows that th'e attack rite is higher in the classrooms (with li to 3ft between the boys) than in tbe well-ventilated dormitories (with at least 5ft between the beds). Dr. Friend reports good results from the use of a vaccine as regards prevention. In the 1918 epidemic he innoculated 77 per cent. of the hoys, and in 1920, 92 per cent. of the boys, and no case of infiuenza oceurred, despite th'e fact that' the disease was prevalent in the surrounding district, I and also oecurred among the un-in-noculated members of the staff. The protection afforded is, however, only of sihort du'ration, and Dr. Morley Fietcher is inclined to think that v.a,ccines are of less* importance in preventing the development or lessening the severity of the complications so commonly ' present. Once an attack of influefiza has begun it is 'impOrtarit to reccignise that the potentialities for ill are great and it is a mistake to under-estimate the seriousness of the disease. One of the difficulties is that the types of infiuenza are numerous and the victim may not realise that his particular troubles are really due to this cause. This is especially true of the ahdominal forms of the disorder, as Dr. A. Douthwaite points out in his contribution to the symposium. In 1932 th'e cbance ;of err0iiS iii diaghosis in this respect seems' to have been very common and a form closely mimicking acnte appendicitis gave rise to a lot of difficulty. It bas recently been urged that since researeh on distemper h'as successfully hrought ahout a cure for this disorder it. only requires the necessary faeilities ;for the sam'e succesS to be clainied for Mfluenza. It nrnst b'e r'emiembered, however, that in the former disorder it was possible to use the actual sufferers from the malady in the search for th'e cause of the disease and its treatment. With human disorders the same degree of experimentation is not possible and this bandicap of necessity retards progress. • :