Gripped by the Grippe

While such natural hazards as snow, fog and heavy rains deterred most longdistance passengers last week, one world traveler got through unimpeded. Requiring no passport and thriving on inclement weather, the influenza virus designated A2-Hong Kong-68 was sweeping across Europe like a Mongol horde.*

The cause of Europe's vulnerability to HK-68 was its lack of what epidemiologists call "herd immunity." Unlike North America, virtually the entire Continent (aside from European Russia) got off lightly last winter. Relatively few Europeans developed either flu or the substantial natural immunity that the grippe confers against a later bout of disease from the same virus. So most Europeans remained susceptible, and they have made little use of the available vaccines.

According to the World Health Organization's influenza sleuths in London, the current outbreak began in Spain in October. Spaniards consider themselves lucky: no more than 5% of the work force reported sick because of flu.

Hit harder were France, with a third of the population stricken in December, and Italy. The Italians originally named the disease (la influenza, to designate "the influence" of an unusual conjunction of the planets) seven centuries ago. This time they blamed it not on the planets but on the return of the Apollo 12 astronauts and called it "moon flu" (TIME, Dec. 19). The epidemic struck first in the north, spread relentlessly down the leg to the very toe of Italy, and last week was rampant in Sicily. Just when it seemed that the peak had passed in the north, cold weather brought a second wave to Trieste and Turin.

The picture was much the same in Greece, where one-third of the population was officially estimated to be bedridden; the blight spread to Yugoslavia and Switzerland, Austria and West Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Germans' word of the week was Grip-pewelle (flu wave), and Chancellor Willy Brandt went to Tunisia to recuperate from his bout. The Viennese, devoted to hot lemon drinks as a palliative, bid up the price of lemons from their midwinter norm of seven schillings (28-c-) for ten lemons, to 20 schillings.

In Britain, health officials stubbornly refused to call the outbreak an epidemic. Nonetheless, 1,500,000 workers reported sick, and hospitals in a score of cities closed their doors against all but emergency admissions. Mortality figures rose steadily; although influenza rarely causes death directly, it kills the infirm aged and very young by secondary diseases such as pulmonary ailments. Except for these complications, antibiotics are useless. Nevertheless, in Britain as elsewhere, there was a widespread demand for them and for even less effective drugs. Vaccination, at this late stage of a continent-wide epidemic, will be wasted on many people who have already been exposed to infection, since the shot takes two to three weeks to build up immunity.

TIME'S London bureau reported that any Briton, asked what kind of a holiday he spent, was almost certain to answer: "Absoludely biserable, thags."

* In North America, the only outbreak severe enough to rate as even a near-epidemic was in Alaska. But in New York City and other metropolitan areas, there was widespread feverish illness and resulting absenteeism.

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