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desire to direct the attention of the public to the extremely
infectious character of the disease, and to point out that to the
exposure of those in an infective condition from Influenza, by
neglect to isolate themselves during the period of such infective
condition, the spread and maintenance of the disease is chiefly
due. It is probable that the breath of those so affected is the
principal medium by which infection is conveyed.
The early symptoms of Influenza are chiefly chills and
shivering, accompanied by great muscular weakness and prostration,
often amounting to inability to stand or move, with pains in
the spine or other parts of the body. It is desirable that persons
thus affected should at once go to bed and there remain until
convalescence is established in order to avoid the dangers of
Pneumonia or Bronchitis, which are the chief complications to
be feared, as likely to lead to fatal results.
Early recourse to medical assistance is desirable in every
case, both for the determination of the real nature of the disease
and for the prevention of the more serious complications.
A most important memorandum was issued in 1895 by the
Medical Officer of the Local Government Board, and was
produced as the result of questions in Parliament, addressed to
Ministers, on the subject of a very fatal outbreak at the end of
1894 and beginning of 1895, and is here set out.
Influenza became epidemic in England in the winter of
1889-90; it recurred in epidemic form in the spring of 1891, and
was maintained up to June of that year; a third epidemic took
place in the winter of 1891-92, and after a minor recrudescence
in the spring of 1893, a fifth prevalence on a wide scale took
place in the winter of 1893-94. England is now passing through
a sixth epidemic period. Two detailed reports have been issued
by the Board on the subject. The first was Dr. Parsons, "On
the Influenza Epidemic of 1889-90," with an introduction by Sir