§ Mr. Huntasked the Secretary of State for the Social Services whether, in view of the latest outbreak of influenza, her Department will initiate urgent research into the relationship between the incidence of influenza and the levels of relative humidity.
§ Dr. OwenResearch has already been undertaken to establish whether there is a direct relationship between the incidence of influenza and levels of humidity and other climatic factors, but no such direct relationship has been demonstrated. Knowledge of the natural history of influenza at this time does not suggest that priority should be given to further studies of the effects of humidity.
The Medical Research Council, as part of its programme of research into influenza, includes surveillance of the pattern of the epidemics caused by the various strains of influenza as they arise from time to time, and this information is scrutinised for clues which might give hope of action to limit the spread of the disease and point to research directed to that end.