INFLUENZA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17982, 26 December 1918, Page 5

INFLUENZA.

SERIOUS CONDITIONS IN PACIFIC GROUPS. HEAVY MORTALITY. By Telegraph—Press Aseociation— Copyright. Router's Telegramo. (Received December 25, 11.35 p.m.) SAN FRANCISCO, December 24. According to an official on the steamer Moana, which has arrived here, depopulation through Spanish influenza threatens the Tahitian, Solomon, Gilbert and other island groups of the South Pacific. During fcho week preceding tho arrival of the Mcana at Papeete over six hundred out of a population of 3/00 had died. Scores begged tho captain for a passage to San Francisco to escape ttio malady. The epidemic is so serious that no labour is obtainable for the cocoanut plantations or harvesting the crop.s. The Governor is barricaded m his residence and is transacting ibusiness by telephone. Similar conditions in other islands aro reported by trading vessels.

OUTBREAK ON STEAMER. MELBOURNE, December 24. Tho steamer Carawa arrived with twenty-four case:; oi influenza aboard, four deaths occurred.

QUARANTINE CASESSYDNEY, December 21. The influenza cases in quarantine have been reduced to eight.

[Per Press Association.]

WAIROA, December 24

Influenza among the Europeans has been practically mastered. The district school temporary hospital was closed down yesterday. There still aro forty cases at the North Clyde Native Hospital, and eight at the convalescent hospital. Whakaki reports .fourteen patients and thirty convalescents. The epidemic is abating everywhere, and the cases are milder.

AUSTRALIAN PRECAUTIONS

NEW ZEALANDEHB STRANDED IN SYDNEY.

[From Our Correspondent.]

SYDNEY, December 12

For a month New Zealand has seemed more distant from Australia than is Japan. Occasionally during that time a few belated newspapers have drifted across the Tasman; an occasional traveller who has been quarantined is met with; a few details about the plague appear in the cablo news. Otherwise New Zealand could scarcely be said to be on the map, so far as wo hero are concerned. Indeed, were it not for the presence of tho Moernki, lying at anchor ofl Oremorne, the red-funnel of the Union Company would be almost n memory. There are rumours about mails being liable to dispatch by the infrequent tramp, but when something in the nature of a reliable service will be resumed is a conundrum to which no answer is obtainable- Until the other day seamen had flatly refused to sign on for the New Zealand run. A cable messago from the union at Wellington announcing it to bo- safe to do so received on Tuesday eased tho situation in that respect, but as the firemen are stated to bo determined not to ship again unless provided with deck cabins the uncertainty seems to be greater than ever. So impressed aro the stranded New Zealanders now in Sydney with this that they held a mass meeting to-day and framec) a cable message to Mr" Massev urging him to rescue them from idleness at once. . Some of these Now Zealanders aro business men who having been caught napping, so to speak, are finding their trip migl:ty expensive. Their only consolation .j that thev escaped tho 'flu but this is tempered by the dread of being boxed up indefinitely in Sydney if the disease srets foothold here. Luckily the quarantine still holds and tho microbiologists prow more hopeful with each passing day. There is a fooling that the onset of summer will be helpful in repelling the invading organism. It is certainlv warming up nicelv. Saturday was 100 degrees in the city. Bonrkc proudly topped the day's score with 116. So unless the 'flu can accommodate itself to heat it is not going to be verv comfortable even if it circumvents the .quarantine staff.

THE DYING AND THE PRIEST. Talking about the quarantine: There has been a fearful rumpus lately over the refusal of the Federal Government to permit a priest of the Roman Catholic Church to enter the quarantine station. The last phase of the disturbance was the dramatic appearance at the gates leading to the forbidden nrea of Archbishop Kelly, who demanded admission and was 'refused by the guard. Then after » period of loud muttering the Ministry gave way and a priest was allowed entry on certain rigid conditions regarding detention. The Government behaved with conspicuous foolishness. The circumstances incidental to the disturbance were, such as to outrage the sensibilities of the entire Roman Catholic community and. very many other people in addition. Among the nursing sisters who had volunteered for service at the quarantine station was a Sister Egan. She was a very devout Catholic. She nursed somo of the most dangerously ill patients and eventually was herself stricken down by the disease. Her condition became 'critical and her relatives, advised of this, made urgent appeals to the Church to see that in her last hours she receiver! the consolations of her religion. Apnlicntion by a uriest for leave to visit the dying nurse was refused. "She was, however" carried to a telephone and spoke to the ■parish priest n, 1 , Manly over the wire. Next day she was buried in the quarantine area by quarantined soldiers with military honours,- the prayers at the graveside being read by am other nurse. Whon_ tlie facts were published the explosion of wrath among Catholics all Over Australia, made /the Government aware that there was something to tako notice of. Ministers tried' to pot out of. the difficulty by talking of the risk'of infection if clergymen were allowed to come in contact with the disease and mix with the public and by pointing to "the strain that would be placed on the accommodation if every denomination insisted on sending a representative." All this was sheer nGense. Tito simple reply to it was r.' t: (1) The Archbishop had reneatcdly stated to tho Health officials that any priest admitted to quarantine would assent to any conditions they liked to impose and,would stav as long as they wished ; and (2) no other denomination had asked for admission of ono of its clergy or intended to ask, and even if a whole regiment of clergy had applied for admission the refusal of admission to a mob would be no reason for not permitting one or two to gain admission- The most charitable conclusion ono can come to is that the Ministry was so beset with political and administrative troubles as to have been xinnble to give the subject serious consideration until events had thoroughly ex-

asperated other people and demands in violent language took tho placo of courteous requests.

HOW ENGLAND WAS AFFECTED

A SOLDIER'S OBSERVATIONS

A soldier just returned from England informed the Wellington "Post" that tho cpuc.uding stages of hostilities found Great Britain laced with another deadly foe—the influenza epidemic. Whilst the armies at the front were each day rapidly overpowering tho Hun, tiie people at Homo wore tailing victims at tho rate of thousands daily to tho dreaded disease. It spread with alarming rapidity throughout tho British isles. It made its attacks so suddenly, and with such disastrous results, that before strict measures could bo brought into operation to combat the disease, it had a firm grip of the people and wrought havoc throughout tho country. Faced with two great perils, tho country was in a serious predicament. Thousands of war workers of all classes were laid asiclo by tho malady, while tho ranks at the many camps and barracks were sadly depleted, in spite of the danger in their midst, tho people, in a manner almost incredible, responded to tho urgent call of " Feed the Guns" with increased effort, hoping that by so doing victory might bo assured in the near future. That their extra energy was not. in vain was soon realised when Germany was hopelessly beaten. WAS IT INFLUENZA? As to whether the epidemic was influenza there was much doubt, tho general opinion being that it was something of a. more serious nature —a mysterious disease. Rumour had it that the disease was the result of some form of bacilli scattered broadcast by the enemy—a last card played in a losing game. As one prominent medical practitioner remar. !: '_' Unless cases aro examined bacteriologically it is taken for granted that the. epidemic is influenza. Time is needed to make a bacteriological examination in order to find the specific organism. ■ Until that has been done, it is impossible to dogmatise on the point. My own view is that the epidemic is similar to what we have known for years." Numerous cases come under tho notice of doctors which seemed to support the suggestion that the oubreak was related to cerebro-spinal meningitis. People were .seized suddenly, many in the streets, and each day the ambulances in London were kept busy with calls. There were cases of sudden paralysis, not a I'cw of thorn ending I'ata'ly, while hundreds of cases were reported of people being seized with ' feverish colds from which they died within a few hours. Then, again, many of tho bodies of victims became discoloured. Attacks in hundreds of imtavces were followed by Windness and bleeding from tho noSo. These are only some of thefeatures of the outbreak, but they soem to indicate that the epidemic was something more serious than influenza.

While thousands of people were dying dailv by the epidemic, the Government kept si!<mt on the matter. The need of a Health Ministry was urgent. "It ]<* nutHng the cart before tho horse," Sir Kingsley Wood remarked at a meeting. "to call a belated conference of medical experts to advise public precaution in regard to influenza. What was wanted long ago was a; central health authority, whose duty it would have been to investigate the disease, not at the bedside but in the laboratory." At least one newspaper repeatedly warned tho Government of the disquietude being caused by the mysterious deaths of hundreds of soldier= and sailors at concentration camps and hnrvacks, vet no official statement was forthcoming. It was not until the disease had canned an appallin? loss of life that a notification was made in the form of a circular letter from the Government Health Board to the Health authorities. Thi=. stated : " A careful record should be kept of the course of the epiand of administrative action taken, in order that subsequently all available information as to this' disease may bo analysed."

PICTURE THEATRES AND SCHOOLS. The closing of public places of entertainment, particularly the picture theatres, which were considered likely sources of infection, was advocated, but they continued to remain open. The schools and other such places were seriously affected, and in most cases were compelled to close down. The London County Council Education Committee, however, decided to carry on the schools "as Jong as there was a sufficient staff to work them." This decision was made on tiie advice of the medical officer, who did not consider that the closing of the schools would serve any useful purpose in preventing tho_ spread of the disease—a peculiar decision in view of, the fact that tho death-rate among children was reported to be exceptionally high. Excellent results were obtained in el' "'ckiftg the outbreak and its eomplicai' is on transports crossing the At1. itic by tho universal uso of a facemask. One large transport, carrying thousands of troops, had only thirty cases of influenza.

Rut, in spite of these and many other suggested ways of avoiding the disease, people in every walk of life were attacked. In fact, according to reports, there was hardly a household or dwell-ing-place in the British Isles that was not affected in some way by the epidemic.

HEAVY DEATH RATE. Some idea of the deadly nature of tho opiuemie may bo judged from tho fact mat. during the lust week in October there were /417 deaths from the disease in tho ninety-six groat towns in England and Wales, while'44B2 deaths we.ro recorded during tne previous week. The deaths in London alone during that week numbered 2458, as compared with 125b' tho previous week. Each day from 50 to 100 people ivero token suddenly ill in Loudon streets. Death rates iu other towns wore the highest over recorded.

With such high mortality the medical profession had an exceedingly trying time. It was quite common lor a doctor to have a visiting list of between 1000 and 1500 patients, while thousands of sufferers were unable to have proper attention. Hospitals and institutions were taxed, many serious cases being unable to secure admission. Where whole households were ill it was not unusual to see posted on the front doors of houses such notices as: "Don't knock; walk in. Ail in bed." Distress was apparent everywhere, being chiefly indicated by the large number of funerals, hundreds of which took placo every day- Indeed, undertakers had so strenuous a timo that many wore compelled to refuse orders, As a result bodies were unable to be interred for five or six days. Ono sad instance was that of a family of ten laid aside by the disease. Five of tho children died, and whilst the remaining. livG members of' the family were confined to ono 100 m, the bodies were left in the. house for several days. So serious was the position throughout the country that the War Officio had to send out batches of carpenters to assist undertakers in making coffins, while in many places soldiors wero employed in digging graves. Hundreds of soldiers, overjoyed nt returning home after strenuous times at the front, met distress at the doors of their homes, quite a number arriving in time to attend tho funerals of relatives.