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58
INFLUENZA.
During 1895, 148 deaths were registered from Influenza,
as compared with 44 during 1894, and an average of
45.l for the last 10 years. Of these 148 deaths, 113 were
registered during the first quarter of the year.
In London, there were registered 2,156 deaths from
Influenza during 1895.
Reviewing the past history of Lambeth in relation to
Epidemic Influenza, it will be seen that the disease has
been practically epidemic since 1890, rising to a maximum
in 1892 and again in 1895.
The Local Government Board issued during the year
1895 a Memorandum to all local Sanitary Authorities, giving
a short history of Influenza Epidemics, and suggesting
methods of prevention. A copy of this Memorandum is
herewith produced:—
Memorandum on Epidemic Influenza.
Influenza became epidemic in England in the winter of
1889-90; it occurred 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 1893-4. 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
George Buchanan, M.D., F.R.S., the Board's Medical Officer
of that date. The second was a "Further Report on Epidemic
Influenza, 1889-92," by Dr. Parsons, with papers on the Clinical
and Pathological aspects of the Disease, by Dr. Klein, F.R.S.,
and an introduction by myself.