Abstract
THE present epidemic of influenza, and the rise in the rate of mortality consequent upon it, are receiving much attention in the public Press, and many irresponsible statements are being made concerning the disease. Among these is the hint that the “so-called influenza” is plague in g thin disguise. These erroneous views may at once be discounted. There is no doubt, as Prof. Hewlett stated in his article in last week's NATURE, that in the present outbreak we are concerned with tne same disease which was widely pandemic in 1889–92, and prior to that had been almost unknown for forty-three years. Since 1892 influenza has lifted up its head at intervals of a few years, and since war began it has been the cause of a fairly heavy mortality in this country, as well as among other belligerent nations, and farther afield in South Africa, in India, and in various parts of America. A clear general conspectus of our present knowledge, and, it may be added, our lack of knowledge, of the disease is given in a memorandum1 recently issued by the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board.
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Epidemic Catarrhs and Influenza . Nature 102, 167–168 (1918). https://doi.org/10.1038/102167a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/102167a0