LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
INFLUENZA
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,--Could you supplement the admirable article- " In- fluenza " with' a note as to whether an attack cofers. any temporary immunity—and if so for .how long ? It seems to differ from most infections diseases in the'way patients succumb to its infection—Or are these apparent subsequent attacks not the genuine microbe ?—I am, Sir, &c.,
A.
DR. HAIRE writes :—" The question of immunity in in- fluenza -is not yet definitely . settled. To begin with, one has a difficult task to distinguish between relapses of the same attack and genuine recurrences. The accepted opinion is that an attack of influenza confers immunity for a short period averaging from three to five months, but that this is followed by a phase of increased susceptibility to the disease. Persons seldom have a genuine second attack during a single epidemic, but if another outbreak occurs nine months or, a year later, those who suffered in the first epidemic are very likely to be attacked again. Allbutt mentions cases of two attacks, which seemed to be quite separate, occurring in a single individual within two months. Another authority, West, says It seems more likely that an individual may never have influenza at all than that, having had it once, he should never have it again. Some indeed seem to offer so little resistance that they .develop it regularly once or twice a year.' Many attempts at prophylactic immun- ization against influenza by means of inoculation have been made on a very large scale, especially during the epidemic of 1918-19, but the results are indefinite. The greatest successes were obtained from inoculation with a vaccine prepared, not from the influenza bacillus alone, but from a large number of different organisms, including the germ which gives rise to pneumonia, and a group of bacilli found in cases of common 'cold.' together with the influenza bacillus." '•
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