Staphylococcal Pneumonia in Influenza:  Five Cases

During the early winter months of 1960 a second wave epidemic of Type "A" influenza (Asian strain) reached epidemic proportions in Minnesota. In Red Wing, a town of 10,000 people, there were an estimated 1,000 cases which occurred largely among healthy adults during a period of about 3 months. The first wave of this epidemic in 1959 either did not strike this community or was so mild that it was not identified as such. This second wave epidemic seemed to have several rather surprising characteristics: (1) few cases occurred among school children (no increase in school absenteeism as compared with identical weeks in previous years); (2) no epidemic among the approximately 120 aged people living in the 7 nursing homes in the city; (3) the severely ill patients (including 4 of the cases herein reported) were mostly among previously healthy adults. A considerable number of cases of primary influenzal pneumonia,