INFLUENZA IN NEW FORM.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1211, 28 February 1922, Page 7

INFLUENZA IN NEW FORM.

THE OUTBREAK IN ENGLAND.

The ne\v so-called "influenza" epidemic is spreading, and as it spreads its special and peculiar character becomes more apparent (writes the medical correspondent of the London Times). We have long been accustomed to the text-book distinction between pulmonary, gastric, and cerebral types of influenza. But the present epidemic belongs to a different category from any of these. Its history is curious'. Last April the present writer called attention in the Times to a curious outbreak of spots on which he had happened to see several cases. Following on his communication letters! were received from various parts of the country describing exactly similar conditions. In all 26 case records were obtained, and they showed the following average course :—" Giddiness) was noticed first. It was followed by loss of appetite to a more or less great degree, and there was a tendency to " feel the heart"—i.e., to palpitation. Thereafter " spots" began to appear. They were raised papules, like, but evidently not, " fleabites'." They had a faint pinkish-yellowish colour. At the same time redness of the face was often noted, and occasionally a rash like German measles spread all over the body. The face became rather

puffy, especially under the eyes, and the ankles: tended to swell. After meals a sense of prickliness was often complained of. The condition lasted about ten

days, and then tended to relapse with nervousness. shakineSs, breathlessness, and often muscular pains. Palpitation was also common. Very careful inquiries showed that cases of the same sort kept cropping up all through the summer, but only a few here and there. In each case marked depression, or palpitation, or both occurred.

The present epidemic bears so great a resemblance to theste spring cases as to suggest that it is the same disease. Again, there are the spots (mostly about shoulders or armsi or face), again the lethargy, against the puffiness, again the giddiness and palpitation. The relapses, too, are occurring just as they occurred early last year. One office in London has. now sixty of its staff on the sick-list; another has an equally large proportion. In some cases the first attack is so slight as to pass for a trifling indisposition. But the subsequent depression makes the diagnosis evident. Further, a marked tendency to boils and carbuncles and other suppurative conditions exists. These have been a most notable feature of the epidemic to date. Some physicians now take the view that a germ belonging to the diphtheroid group is the active agent. It is pointed out that slight sore throat with glandular enlargement is commonly met with. Moreover, we are

now passing through an exceptionally severe epidemic of diphtheria among children. Be this as it may, there ia need for extensive investigation, because the after-effects of the attacks seem to be prolonged and of great severity—notably the Repression and breathlessness.