Relationship of air temperature to outbreaks of influenza.

Abstract

Huxham who derived the word from the Italian phrase which ascribed the origin of the disease to 'un influenza di freddo', the influence of the cold. Since that time several workers have implicated inclement weather with an increased morbidity from influenza. In 1885, William Farr noted from the Registrar General's returns of deaths in England and Wales that 'the degree down to which monthly tempera-tures fall in December, January and February deter-mine to a great extent the mortality of the winter'. More recently, Semple (1951) indicated that im-mediately before and during an influenza epidemic period Merseyside experienced the coldest spell for many years, the weekly mean temperature from mid-December to mid-January being 2-5 to 3-6°C