3

H.—l9b

Captain J. W. Crawshaw, N.Z.M.C, has written a very able and instructive note on the cases treated by him in Featherston Camp, in which by a vigorous application of serum treatment he lost only 8 cases out of 36, equal to 22 per cent. The total percentage of deaths to attacks equals 31 per cent., a great improvement on previous years. Diphtheria. —There were 4 admissions at Featherston; no deaths. Pneumonia.— .There were 15 admissions; .1 death. Enteric Fever. —One admission; no deaths. Alcoholism.— There were 9 admissions, as against 86 for the previous year, and 1 death—a great improvement, accounted for by the different class of recruits, those in 1917 being bachelors and those in 1918 being married men. Scabies. —There were 159 admissions. Tubercle of Lung. —There were 9 admissions ; 2 deaths. Other General Diseases. —There were 56 admissions; 1 death (from carcinoma of jaw). Diseases of Ihe Nervous System. —There were 71 admissions; 4 deaths (3 from apoplexy and 1 from epilepsy). Mental Cases. —There were 13 admissions; no deaths. Diseases of the Circulatory System. —There were 73 admissions; 2 deaths (1 from D.A.H. and 1 from V.D.H.). Diseases of the Respiratory System. —There were 185 admissions; 1 death (from pleurisy). Diseases of the Digestive System. —There were 422 admissions; no deaths. Diseases of the Urinary System. —There were 52 admissions; 1 death (from diabetes). Diseases of the Generative System. —There were 43 admissions; no deaths. Diseases of the Organs of Locomotion. —There were 228 admissions; no deaths. Diseases of the Connective Tissue. —There were 7 admissions; no deaths. Skin-diseases. —There were 92 admissions; no deaths. Injuries. —General: 7 admissions; no deaths. Local: 401 admissions; 2 deaths (1 from concussion of the brain and 1 injury to spine). Poisons. —There was 1 admission (coal-gas). Effects of Anti-typhoid Vaccine. —There were 11 admissions. No Appreciable Disease. —There were 41 admissions. Suicides. —l cut throat and 1 from hanging. Officers. —Average strength, 36. Admissions, 113, equal to ratio of 358 per thousand; 17 deaths, equal to 5379 per thousand. The chief cause of admission was influenza. There was 1 death from cerebro-spinal meningitis at Trentham. Deaths from influenza, 15. There was 1 death from poison (morphia, accidental; officer on leave). General Remarks. Had it not been for the outbreak of pneumonic influenza in November the health returns for the camps would have been as good as the previous year, and, indeed, as regards mortality, would have shown a marked improvement. The pneumonic influenza which supervened in so aggravated a form on the milder form of influenza was no doubt helped on by the importation of a severer form from Africa and Europe. No new bacilli have so far been definitely identified, and those discovered in the present epidemic are all of the same character as those we have had previous experience of. They seem to have increased in virulence and infectivity as the result of the disease having broken out amongst large bodies of troops whose resisting-power had become weakened as the result of the privations of war, and in New Zealand by the very severe weather conditions which prevailed at the time. Spraying, avoidance of overcrowding, stimulation and rest, with scrupulous cleanliness of camps, were the methods found most successful in combating the disease, along with most careful nursing. As Colonel Leahy remarks, care has to be taken in spraying that the patients remain only three minutes in the vapour, which should be quietly inhaled, that the apartment be not overcrowded, and that the vapour should contain a 1-per-cent. solution of sulphate of zinc and no stronger. That these steps were more or less successful may be gathered from the large number of pneumonia cases that recovered, and that in both Trentham and Featherston half the men in camp did not contract the disease at all. I!. S. F, Henderson. Surgeon-Ceneral, Director-General of Medical Services.

REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL SERVICES (SANITARY) ON SANITATION OF THE MILITARY CAMPS FOR 1918. The Director-General of Medical Services. I HAVE the honour to present the following report on the sanitary condition of the camps in the year 1918. The year has been a disastrous one owing to the outbreak of pneumonic influenza in November, whereby 4,740 cases were affected, with 287 deaths. Prior to this a widespread epidemic of