INFLUENZA WAVE

Taranaki Daily News, 7 January 1927, Page 7

INFLUENZA WAVE

THE EUROPEAN OUTBREAK TERRIBLE TOLL OF DEATHS THE FESTIVITIES BLAMED WHOLE TOWNS CRIPPLED By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Jan, 6, 7.35 p.m. London, Jan. 5. The influenza epidemic is so drastic, in Montpellier that bodies are being buried without coffins, the supply of which is inadequate. At Bordeaux the deaths average 40 daily. The whole town of Wiesenthal, in South Baden, is crippled owing to infection. The medical authorities in Madrid declare that the outbreak is traceable to the Christmas festivities and the 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 breathing. It is practically impossible to obtain medical assistance. There are 600 hospital eases in Geneva, where the authorities have turned the military barracks into an emergency hospital. Half the staff of the League of Nations Secretariat is stricken and the re-opening of the schools and the university is postponed indefinitely.