Studies of influenza in hospitals of the British armies in France, 1918.

Date:
1919
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Studies of influenza in hospitals of the British armies in France, 1918. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Yi further the research by every means in his power. Major-General Sir John Rose Bradford, K:C.M.G., C.B., F.R.S8., the consultant physician to the Abbeville Area, kindly attended some of the -meetings of the ‘Research Team’, and his assistance and advice were always at the disposal of the clinicians taking part in the work. The work of the officers-in-charge of laboratories throughout the B.E.F. was beyond praise, and many reports of high value were received. It is regretted that considerations of space impose limits on the number of these reports which it is possible to publish at the present time, but they constitute a collection of records which will be of permanent value for army reference. | The present report is divided into two parts. Part I consists of the work contributed by the Research Team, together with diagrams, photographs, and coloured illustrations, the latter by Sergeant A. K. Maxwell, R.A.M.C., whose services were kindly lent for the purpose by the Medical Research Committee. Part II includes clinical, pathological, bacteriological, and sero- logical reports from No. 38 Canadian General Hospital, No. 5 General - Hospital, No. 25 Stationary Hospital, and from the Central Mortuary, Etaples Base. In addition to the reports included in Part IT, papers of the highest interest were also received from Major W. James Wilson, R.A.M.C., of No. 54 General Hospital, Captain C. Ponder, R.A.M.C., of No. 1 Stationary Hospital, Lieutenant B. A. I. Peters, R.A.M.C., of No. 14 General Hospital, Captains G. Bradbury andE. B. Krumbhaar, Medical Corps, U.S. Army, of No. 16 (Philadelphia, U.S.A.) General Hospital, and from Captain H. M. Perry, R.A.M.C., of No. 14 Stationary Hospital. Many valuable notes also reached me in private letters from Lieutenant-Colonel C. J. Martin, C.M.G., F.R.S., Major J. W. MeNee, D.S.O., Captain A. Stokes, D.S.O., Captain J. Cruickshank, R.A.M.C., Major A. W. M. Ellis, C.A.M.C., and others. The perusal of these reports and communications, as well as frequent visits to the laboratories in the B.E.F., has given me an exceptional opportunity of keeping in touch with the investigations undertaken in France, and this must be my excuse for attempting to summarize the impressions gained from a centralized study of reports from a large number of independent workers. I. IpENTITY oF SUMMER AND AutuMN EPIDEMICS. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL NotTss. In the B. M.J. of November 23, 1918, Captain M. Greenwood, R.A.M.C., sets out in a strikimg manner the characters of the curves of incidence in past influenza epidemics. In this paper it is stated that ‘the fundamental characteristics of a primary epidemic of in- fluenza are a very high attack rate and an approximately symmetrical distribution in time’: ... ‘the graph of the epidemic is an almost symmetrical curve ; the fatality is low, rarely more than 1 per cent. of the cases.’ “A secondary epidemic affects a relatively small pro- portion of the population, is slower in reaching its maximum, and, thereafter, declines slowly and irregularly—more slowly than it increases ; its distribution is asymmetrical, and there is less con-