INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1920, Page 5

INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC.

RECURRENCE UNLIKELY. RED CROSS LEAGUE BULLETIN. ORIGIN IN EASTERN EUROPE. An article discussing the causes of influenza epidemics and the risks of another outbreak as virulent as that of 11)18 has been prepared by the Department of Medical Information of the League of Red Cross Societies, and published in the Bulletin, of this 'international organisation. Sinee the beginning of the year a disquieting increase of influenza has been reported from many countries, notably Japan, the United States, Northern Italy and Spain, and warnings have been issued that this; may be the beginning of another "wave" of the epidemic. It is too early yet to judge of its probable extent or severity, but there is no occasion to anticiapte a repetition, on anything like the same scale, of the devastating may assume from the behaviour of former epidemics, and, furthermore, it is reasonable to suppose thjit a large proportion of the population is more or less "prntected" this year by reason of having had the disease less than two years ago. During 1918, for example, the fatal cases were proportionately more, numerous in persons under 35 years of age, which is not what one would expect except on the theory that the majority of people above that age, having had the disease during the last great epidemic of ISB9-91, still enjoyed a certain degree of immunity.

SIMPLE PRECAUTIONS. Ttiflnenza is the only serious infectious disease which in modern times reaches "pandemic" proportions—that is, afreets the entire population in the course of a few weeks. Patients still going about coughing and sneezing in the early stages of the disease ;ter the virulent germs broadcast in the air, and in this way everyone is liable to be exposed to the infection. Spreading thus in the same manner as common colds, little can .be done to limit its ravages. It becomes a matter o!' individual personal hygiene. There are no sure safeguards, but the chances of infection can undoubtedly be diminished by certain precautions, such as avoiding crowded or ill-ventilated rooms and conveyances, and keeping the nose, mouth, and throat, the portal* of entry, as clean as possible, by means 'of frequent rinsings witih warm water in which a little common salt lins been dissolved. At the first sign of the disease the patient should go to bed and stay there till convalescence is well established. Experience has shown that those ■ who try to fight the disease, or who are obliged —and physically able—to go about their business for a day or two, are much more liable to develop severe symptoms and the deadly complication pneumonia. . MASKS AND VACCINES. • Gauze masks covering the moutii and nose undoubtedly afford some protection, if people can be induced to wear them. In a great emergency, such as occurred in 1018, they should be provided on a vast scale, and their use encouraged in ivery way. About six are needed for each individual, in order that they may be frequently changed. They are easily disinfected by being baked in an oven and then exposed, to sunlight. Vaccines also are being used in Japan, and in Great Britain the Ministry of Health lias lately notified the public that they are available for anyone who wishes to take advantage of the somewhat doubtful measure of protection they seem to afford. These vaccines are prepared from the influenza bacillus and from the several other germs which I are associated ■ with it in causing the I secondary pneumonia, the dreaded com- j plication which makes influenza such a fatal disease. The vaccines to be of use must be given before the epidemic ha* gained a foothold in the community.. In the present site of our knowledge there is no immediate prospect of discovering a curative serum. The blood serum of people who have recovered from, the disease has been used in a few instances and with no very definite results.

BREEDING-GROUND OF INFLUENZA. Most epidemic diseases seem to have a "home," a district in which cases are always to bo found, and from which at intervals the disease starts out to ravage the world. Thus the bubonic plague, the Black Death of the Middle Ages, is endemic in certain parts of India. Similarly the starting point of the epidemics) of influenza has been traced with some certainty to Eastern Europe, especially the district on the borders of Russia and Turkestan. From here it sets forth at intervals of thirty to fifty years, moving slowly towards tho East, more rapidly towards the West, but always with tiie speed of human travel. It acquires increasing virulence as it goes. The causes which determine these sudden migrations arc quite unknown. It would seem, bowever, that our best chance of ridding mankind of the menace of this periodical scourge lies not so much in tho discovSry of a protective serum or vaccine, as in making a determined attack on the disease during its. long inactive period at its source. Such a plan of campaign cannot yet be materialised. For political and geographical as well as medical reasons the problem is 110: so simple as it was in the case of yellow fever which lias been definitely controlled by the masterly "cleaning tip" of its epidemic homes in Cuba nnd Panama. Nevertheless, we may confidently expect that influenza's turn will come before the next great epidemic is due.