INFLUENZA IN BRITAIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21450, 25 March 1933, Page 9

INFLUENZA IN BRITAIN

INCREASE SINCE THE WAR RECENT SERIOUS EPIDEMIC The number of deaths from influenza in England and Wales in the 10 post-war years ending in 1929 was more than double that recorded for the 10 pre-war years ending in 1914. This is revealed in. a recent issue of the British Medical Journal. It is stated that the total of deaths in the recent British epidemic is likely to come near to that of 1929, which was almost 30,000. The new visitation, however, is declared to be far less serious than "the great pestilence of 1918-19." The article contains the following significant passages:—"ln the 10 years ending in 1914 the number of deaths ascribed to influenza in England and Wales was 70.172, and in the K) years ending in 1929 the number was 149,363. Making all duo allowances for changes in the fashion of certification, the age constitution of the population, etc., it is clear that, just as after the pandemic of 1889-90 this item on the debit side of our health account acquired an importance new to the prewar generation, so since the pandemic of 1918 the claim of our creditor has become substantially larger. "In this post-war epoch the annual claim has thrice exceeded 20,000 lives, in 1922, in 1927 and in 1929. when the figure almost reached 30,000. We are now paying a bill which, if we are lucky, may not exceed that of 1929, but is sure to be a heavy one." Of the recent- epidemic the article savs that tho total of deaths from influenza in the groat towns began to increase decidedly in the week ending December 24, 1932, when the number was 120. It continued to rise for tho next two weeks. In the first week of the new year there was a slackening rate of increase, but in the week ending January 21 the total reached 1589, a number which implied tliat the rate of increaso was not yet in full decline, and in the week ending January 28 the number was 1934. "The condition of the people at the time of the great epidemic of 1847-48 was very bad," the article concludes. Hie still greater epidemic of 1918-19 came upon a people who had suffered four years of war. The present visitation finds the people suffering from the effects of a very uupros'perous peace, so that its remoter effects upon the public health, should not be regarded too optimistically."