THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19966, 7 December 1926, Page 9

THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC

RELATIVE FIGURES , AVAILABLE. MILD FORM IN OTAGO. iSpecial to Daily Times.) WELLINGTON. December 6. “Now that the Dominion figures of the ravages of the influenza epidemic are available, it is interesting to review its course and its effect from the various aspects that the subject presents,” writes the Government Statistician in his monthly abstract. “The figures indicate that influenza first began to assume noticeable proportions towards the middle of June, and. finally exhausted itself somewhere about the end of September. All the subject matter, therefore, contained in the review is confined to the period commencing with the week ended Saturday, June 19, and terminating with the week ended Saturday, September 25, 1926. “Commencing towards the end of June, ths number of fatal cases of influenza rapidly rose during the succeeding few weeks, until the maximum number of 64 was attained during the first week in August. The following week witnessed a substantial decrease in the death toll, and this was succeeded by n steady and continuous decline thereafter. The following figures show the proportion of influenza deaths per 10,000 of the population of each provincial district and from these figures a general conception is obtained of the relative severity of the epidemic over the various portions of the Dominion: “Auckland 2.05. Hawke’s Bay 1.98, Taranaki 2.22, Wellington 1.72, Marlborough 2.69, Nelson 3.17, Westland 4.66, Canterbury 3.93, Otago 1.47, and Southland 1.84. “On the above basis it will be seen that the Westland provincial district records the greatest severity of the disease, closely followed by Canterbury. Nelson and Marlborough are next in order, while the mildest form of the epidemic was apparently experienced in Otago and Wellington. Although the greater number of deaths was recorded for the North Island, it is obvious from the death rates quoted above that the South Island really suffered the most from the point of view of severity.”