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were of no particular age group, nor were there any recognisable predisposing
causes, many of the deaths being in those of under 45 years of
age.
The first intimation of anything occurring locally was in the week
ended September 21st when notice was received of an illness attacking
many pupils in one of the local schools. At the same time a general
practitioner reported that two of his adult patients were suffering from
an illness similar in character to that which had been reported in the
northern counties. The patients suffered from a raised temperature and
headache; a high proportion had sore throats, some vomited and a small
proportion had other gastro-intestinal disturbances. In due course the
laboratory reported that Virus A had been recovered from the throat
swabs of some of these patients. Later results were that it was of the
Asian strain. In the meantime pupils at many other schools suffered from
a similar illness. The number of absentees in each of these schools soon
rose to a maximum, most often in the second week, followed by a fall
to more normal attendances in a further three to four weeks. The wave
had passed through the district by the middle of November.
Experiments in influenza vaccination have been carried out for the
last 20 years. Although it cannot be claimed that a pandemic can be
stopped by vaccinating persons against influenza, the results obtained up
to this have been sufficiently encouraging to justify the hope that a high
death rate might be prevented, and also excessive absenteeism which might
disorganise the public services. Unfortunately, the vaccine prepared
against this virus seems to stimulate little antibody reponse, so presumably
could not be expected to give much protection. This is perhaps because
so few of the population have had previous experience of this virus, so that
the first injection would be acting merely as a primary stimulus.
The vaccine which became available was issued to members of hospital
staffs and then for the use of those members of local health authority
staff whose duties took them to homes and more especially to homes
where there were sufferers, these including midwives and home nurses.
By the time that the vaccine was available to others, the outbreak had
spent itself.
A report of the Medical Research Council's Committee on Influenza
and Other Respiratory Virus Infections issued early in 1958 based on
volunteers in public schools, teachers' training colleges and other centres
showed that inoculation with one dose of Asian influenza vaccine had a
very definite protective effect from four days later.
TUBERCULOSIS
The setback in the general improvement of the position regarding
tuberculosis, one of the outcomes of the second world war, has now been
overtaken, and each year is seeing a steady improvement in the situation.
The number of deaths from tuberculosis in the country as a whole fell
first, the figure in 1956 being 5,375 compared with 23,551 in 1947. the
1956 figure being a decline of seventeen per cent, even on that of 1955
Notifications started to fall much later, but they too are now diminishing
steadily. During the five-year period from 1952, the notifications fell
from 48,993 to 35,504 in 1956, a fall of twenty-six per cent. This fall is