INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 March 1919, Page 5

INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC.

POSITION IN AUSTRALIA. Sydney, March H. Yesterday was the worst day for influei>za. It is reported that there were 26 cases and two deaths. There have been four additional deaths from influenza Melbourne, March 11. Six deaths from influenza are reported. THE EPIDEMIC COMMISSION. . Wellington, Last Night. At, the Epidemic Commission, Dr. Mnkgill said it had been suggested that in Auckland unsanitary conditions existed favoring the development of a more virulent type of influenza, yet experience told him that conditions equally insanitary could be found in any of the main centres. Moreover, catarrhal pneumonias were not, nearly so prone to epidemic form, or to take on a severe type, among slum-dwellers as among healthy young people brought up in the country. Influenzal infection found in 1918 was worldwide, climatic conditions favoring its spread. It was found that gatherings of troops exalted its virulence, and by the transference of such troops about' the world it was able to reach other countries with ever-increasing infeetivity. The in- <!•!<•'!« of the appalling prison camps in : Germany and Austria had not been dis- \ eii.-wK.'l. but anion? the starved and crowded soldiers there were abnormal infections which would find a good breeding ground. Dr. Valintine, chief health officer, spoke of the need for reorganising the department, which had been starved ever since its inception. HOW VISITATION AFFECTED DOMINION'S DEATH RATE. The announcement has already been mada that the influenza epidemic caused approximately six thousand deaths in New Zealand. The returns now gazetted show that the total number of deaths during 1918 was M,364. The highest number previously recorded was 10,596, in 1916, so that the figure for the last year was over 50 per cent, higher than the previous highest. The death rate in_lfllß was 9.04 per 1000 of mean population, whereas in 1918 the rate reached 14.84, an increase of 53.04 per cent. Last year's rate was the highest in the history of New Zealand sinee 1875, when the rate was 15.9 per thousand of the population. ' Twice in the 'sixties the death rate exceeded 17 per thousand, but those were the days before the organisation of the pubiic health had attained any hk;h degree of efficiency. As a matter of fact, 9ince 1891 the death rate has risen above 10 per thousand only on five occasions—in 1899, in 1902 and 1903, in 1907, and again last year. The year 1907, it may be remarked, brought severe epidemics of measles and whooping cough, and influenza was particularly active. Indeed, in all the years indicated as having a death rate exceeding 10 per thousand, measles, whooping conght, influenza and diarrhoea! diseases Were very prevalent. In 1908, also, there was a marked epidemic of scarlet fever.