INFLUENZA SPREADING.

Hundreds of fresh cases of influenza occurred in London yesterday, but so far the number of deaths is less than a dozen in the whole country. A large number of patients suffering from the symptoms were yesterday admitted to the London hospitals, and private practitioners report that they are being kept very busy with the treatment of such cases. The staffs of many factories, City offices, and shops have been seriously depleted as a result of the epidemic, and the London County Council school medical officer has been notified of the spread of the illness among the children attending the schools. Up to the present it has not been found necessary to close any of the Council schools. “The complaint is extremely infectious,” said a London medical officer of health in an interview with a Press representative. “There is a point of very great importance in regard to its spread to which attention has not been sufficiently drawn, and which cannot be too strongly emphasised – that is, that the germs are spread to an extraordinary extent by discharges from the nose and throat, by coughing and sneezing, and especially in confined spaces, such as public vehicles, offices, workshops, &c. Those suffering from this complaint should therefore be warned not- to cough or sneeze when standing or sitting near healthy persons without the interposition of a handkerchief. Unfortunately, this practice does not seem to be as widely carried out as it should be, and because of its neglect hundreds of persons are suffering to-day.” Four thousand Dudley children are suffering from the complaint, and all the schools have been closed. Some deaths have occurred, and queues of patients are waiting nightly outside surgeries. Owing to the large number of cases at Blythe, in Cumberland, medicine queues have appeared. One fatal case has been reported there. In parts of North Yorkshire and South Durham some hundreds of people are suffering from the complaint. Schools in Heywood, Lancashire, have closed, and the biggest mill in the town has ceased work. Other mills in the neighbourhood are likely to follow. Half a dozen deaths are reported from the complaint. In the Mansfield (Notts) district theatres and cinemas have been placed out of bounds to soldiers. Two hundred and fifty men are absent from one local pit, many hosiery and boot factories have lost workers, and many children have fallen victims to the malady.