AN INFLUENZA PLAGUE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 7 January 1927, Page 5

AN INFLUENZA PLAGUE.

HARVEST OF DEATH IN WESTERN EUROPE. GENEVA SORELY SMITTEN. LONDON, Jan. 5, The influenza epidemic is so drastic in Montpellier that the bodies are buried ■without coffins, the supply of which is inadequate. At Bordeaux, the deaths average 4o daily. The whole town of Wiesenthal, in South Baden, is crippled owing to the infection.

The medical authorities in Madrid declare that the outbreak is traceable to Christmas festivities and consequent kissing and hand-shaking. In Brussels the epidemic has assumed an alarming character. The disease takes the form of seizures in the street, the victims having difficulty in wreathing. It is practically impossible to obtain medical assistance.

There are 600 hospital cases in Geneva where the authorities have turned the military barracks into an emergen ey hospital. Half the staff of the League of Nations Secretariat is stricken, and the re-opening of schools and university is postponed indefinitely.