STUDY OF INFLUENZA

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVI, Issue 42, 28 May 1935, Page 4

STUDY OF INFLUENZA

The natural history of epidemics continues to engage attention, and Professor Topley's experiments with colonies of mice are being continued, states the annual report of the British Medical Research Council. The study of influenza has been helped by the fact that mice as well as ferrets can now be infected with the disease. "The availability of a second susceptible species," it is stated, "and especially one so convenient for the purpose as the mouse, extends the possibilities of experiment and will be of great practical help in the work. It has already been shown that the disease can be transmitted riot only from ferret to mouse, but also from mouse to mouse, and from mouse back to ferret. The direct infection of mouse from man has not yet been attempted." It is parenthetically stated that the method of transmission is of crucial importance, and there is no evidence of natural spread of the disease from the infected mice to others living in contact with them. "Further," proceeds the report, "it has been found that the infection can be neutralised for the mouse by the serum of a ferret recovered from the disease and subsequently rendered hyper-immune by repeated administration of virus. Thus, mice inoculated with mixtures of the virus and the serum do not contract the disease, while controls receiving virus alone regularly do so. Cultural and filtration experiments have confirmed that the mouse disease is due to an ultra-microscopic organism." Commenting on the progress of the investigations as a whole, the report states: "It is to be emphasised, however, that the work does not give any immediate prospect of practical applications to the control of human influenza. Whatever else may ultimately result from this work, a much clearer understanding of the disease may at least be confidently expected; in particular, it is likely to facilitate the distinction between true epidemic influenza and the many other conditions to which the name is at present loosely applied."