THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14266, 17 January 1920, Page 5

THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC

TRACING ITS OFUGIN, INEFFICACY OP VIRUS, LIES LILTS CD N TRADI CT 0R Y, {Australian and N-Z. Cable Assn.)/ .Received January le, 5.5 p.m. LONDON. .January 15. A- comprehensive avuou.it of the great influenza epidemic lias been issued in a report by the Local Government Board. The writer, tracing its origin,, points out that an epidemic of influenza was prevalent in China and Japan in Marcu, 1918,. but-was not reported in Spain until May,. 1918. He is of the opinion that the disease originated in China, coining to America, and thence to Europe, or alternatively it originated-in America, preceding thence East and West. In Britain the Grand Fleet and Army were the first to suffer. Glasgow was the seat of the disease, and the first civilian outbreak was in May, followed by an autumn epidemic. Portsmouth, Southampton, and Liverpool were the first affected, but suffered lightly, inland towns suffering later and more severely.

The reports adds: “It does not appear that ony attack is invariably powerful in protecting against others. Results are contradictory, but may be reconciled by hypothesis. There arc several strains of influenza virus, none conferring protection against others, each wave having a peculiar dominant strain producing a certain wave of individuality. “