EPIDEMIC INFLUENZA.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 March 1922, Page 2

EPIDEMIC INFLUENZA.

OUTBREAK IN ENGLAND. PAST EXPERIENCE REPEATED. LOW MORTALITY RATE. The recent epidemic of influenza .in England was reviewed in a statement issued by the Ministry for Health about the middle of January, when it was believed the maximum had been reached. The number of deaths in London increased from 13 in the week ending November 12, to 551 in the week ending January 14, the total number of deaths in 105 great towns in the last week of the period having been 1262. In the following week there were 1433 deaths, including 443 in London. Outbreaks of influenza in England began in November, states the Ministry report, notably in’ the Western areas of Nottinghamshire, whence it spread to towns in the South of the West Riding (where Leeds, Sheffield, and Rotherham were principally affected), and westwards toward the Potteries. In the areas thus attacked early the epidemic had by the middle of January materially abated or practically ceased. In London, although there was evidence of influenza in the schools about the end of November, the disease did not become generally prevalent until the middle of the following month.

During the first fortnight in January the epidemic further extended in many parts of England and Wales. In the 96 great towns, during the week ending January 14, the deaths from influenza (including bronchitis and pneumonia complicating influenza) totalled 1240. Of this number 551 occurred in London. Weekly returns from the towns where the wave bad apparently spent its force suggested a dura 1 on of the epidemic in individual areas of six to seven weeks. The appearance of epidemic influenza was simultaneously reported from various countries on the Continent.

“The epidemic on present evidence may be classed with those which occur with some regularity in the years which follow a great pandemic,” the report continues. “It bears the same relation in time to the pandemic of 1918-1919 as the recrudescence of 189.5 bore to the severe epidemic of 1892—the most fatal of the three waves which affected London in the pandemic period 1889-1892. As compared with the 1918-1919 period the number of persons now being attacked is smaller, and the severity of the disease is usually much less. In this connection the figures already given may be compared with those of the week of maximum incidence in 1918, when there were 7557 deaths in the 96 great towns, 2458 of which occurred in London.

“Epidemic influenza varies notoriously not only in its severity but in the symptoms by which it is characterised. In ordinary 6ases during the present prevalence the attack takes the form of two or three days’ fever. The acute catarrh of an ordinary heavy cold is by no means general. The most frequent symptoms are sudden onset, headache, pain in the back and legs, and congestion of the throat, with some bronchial catarrh and an irritating and very persistent cough. Other forms which have been described are attacks akin to those of a mild cold, but followed by severe general depression, and a gastro-intestinal form. The occurrence of spotty rashes on the face and attacks of giddiness have also been described. Accounts o-f persons fainting or falling in the streets in consequence of sudden onset of influenza, have been much exaggerated. “Most of the deaths attributed to influenza have been due to pulmonary complications, although these complications in the young adult and persons of early middle age are occurring far less’ frequently than in the pandemic years of 1918-1919. The clinical evidence points to a somewhat severe incidence on very young children and a heavier fatality in persons at advanced ages. According to the latest weekly return available for London, more than one-third of the deaths attributed to influenza occur in persons over 65, who constitute about 6 per cent, of the population.” -