A Study of the Acute Infections of the Throat and Respiratory System

The problems involved in the occurrence and spread of the acute respiratory infections are so urgent and yet so complex that any contribution to the subject, no matter how small, has been deemed worth the publishing. A monthly record of the acute infections of the throat and respiratory system has been kept for the last four years at the Cornell University medical adviser's office. This record has shown, year after year, a gradual rise to a maximum number of cases in January, February or March, and a gradual fall as summer approaches. The accompanying chart and Table 1 show that the year 1919-1920 was apparently an epidemic year for these diseases, and that this was followed by a year with few such infections. The year 1921-1922 shows a slightly increasing prevalence, and 1922-1923 shows the infections again assuming epidemic proportions.