RAVAGES OF INFLUENZA.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14841, 19 February 1919, Page 5

RAVAGES OF INFLUENZA.

VERY HEAVY TOLL IN JAPAN. NOT ABATING IN BRITAIN. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association) TOKIO, Feb. 16. Influenza is levying heavy tell on all ranks. Over eight million cases are reported and fifty-five thousand deaths. LONDON, Feb. 17. The influenza epidemic is not abating. There were 138 deaths m Edinburgh last week, of which ninety were from pneumonia. It is estimated that the deaths m the last quarter of 1918 totalled 175.000, largely young adults, involving an economic loss of 120 million sterling. < Doctors increasingly believe that masks afford protection. MELBOURNE. Feb. 18. 1 Spirited controversy has arisen over Dr. Cumpton's thesis that the present influonza epidemic is not of the violent and infectious type which ravaged New Zealand and ether countries. Eminentdoctors, including the superintendent of the Melbourne Hospital, emphatically declare that the disease is identical "with the overseas type. All the post mortems show exactly the same symptoms j as those contained m New Zealand. j Eleven deaths from influenza are reported. (Received Feb. 19, 10.40 a.m.) SYDNEY, Feb. 19. The police are empowered to stop news vendors m the streets giving sensational coloring to influenza news when the position does not warrant it. j One additional death is reported, 'making a total of eight. MELBOURNE Feb. 19. j Nineteen influenza deaths are re- : ported. j WELLINGTON, last night. A party of nurses left for Australia ! to-day to assist m fighting the influenza epidemic. The Health Department m response to a request from New South Wales is sending information regarding , the steps taken m this country to combat the epidemic. (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Twenty-five nurses left here yesterday 'for Australia, m answer to the Com- ; monwealth's request for assistance. They 'are all trained, certificated nurses. A , large number of applications came too !late, including many from uncertificated | women. Unless the position is- very .'urgent the Government will not send (more nurses, as the New Zealand! supply |is not large, and the possibility of a : recurrence of the epidemic m a mild : form must be provided against. The Minister for Health a feAv days ago receiyed a cable from the Premier of New South Wales asking for any advice whicii could > be given regarding the methods by whicii New Zealand) so quickly disposed of the scourge. Mr. Russell replied by cable giving New Zealand's experience and details of its organisation. Mr. Russell adds; "If another epidemic comes we are prepared with a complete scheme of organisation to cope with it."

To those who cannot understand how* so minute a germ as the germ of influenza, needing to be magnified a great many times to be visible to the eye, can be caught and held by a mask of gauze, a Sydney paper quotes Dr. Patpn as saying that the germs are contained m droplets exhaled from the mouth or nose ; and it is these droplets that adhere to the mask, whereupon the germs, which cannot live m a dry state, die.' The correspondent takes the further exception that the air exhaled from the nose or mouth is impure air ; and that anything that . obstructs the getaway of the used air has seriousc disadvantages. The answer is that th^ impife air does escape, because the gauze is not thick enough to prevent it. Some difficulty appears to exist as to what constitutes an effective mask. The Director-general of Public Health states that any method of covering the nose and mouth so that the wearer will breathe through at least four layers of gauze or butter muslin closely fitting the face round the edges is considered sufficient. Wire mounts are only for the purpose of keeping the gauze away from the lips and preventing it from becoming wet. # When the R.M.S. Paloona, which ar- j rived at Wellington last week, left San Francisco on January 15th, the city was m the. throes of a second attack of the influenza epidemic. An officer of the vessel stated that, after the first attack had subsided, the theatres- were, re-^ opened, and the regulation' making necessary the wearing of masks was cancelled. It appears that the ban was lifted ' too soon, however, and the. city suffered as a result. The Paloona left there on a Wednesday, and on the following Friday all the restrictions were to be renewed-.