CAUSE FOR ALARM?

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 662, 16 January 1933, Page 8

CAUSE FOR ALARM?

Growth of Influenza in Great Britain. Many people are -wondering whether the meagreness of the details cabled about the influenza epidemic in England is due to the fact that it is not regarded as serious, or whether it is serious and the Health authorities, to prevent creating a scare, are exerting their influence to tone down the accounts to the bare minimum. As far back as -December 18 a cable stated that Professor John Glaister, Scotland’s leading medical crime expert, had succumbed as a victim of the “ current influenza epidemic,” and his wife died three hours later. A message on December 29 stated that the epidemic had assumed considerable proportions in several parts of the country, though it was not as dangerous as that of three years ago. That message reported thirty deaths, while over 1000 public servants were away from work. In London the authorities said the situation was nothing out of the common for the time of year. Then, on January 8. a message stated that the unseasonably mild weather had produced the worst epidemic for many years. The influenza, however, was generally of a mild type, incapacitating the victims for only a few days. On January 13 the death of Miss Winifred Spooner, the airwoman, was announced. A message dated yesterday shows that there are 500,000 influenza victims in Great Britain, and a death roll that has mounted to 400 per week. A Christchurch medical man who was approached- on the subject this morning said that the death roll, big though it was. did not mean so much in a population of over 40,000,000. While the fact that athletes and men in outdoor occupations were attacked pointed to a severe form of the illness, there was nothing to suggest plague. In 1918 people were dying faster than that in New Zealand. “ There is certainly no cause for alarm here at present,” he concluded. (A cable message appears on page 1.)