Influenza Occurring in Pregnant Women

In the latter part of October, 1918, when the epidemic of influenza was at its peak in this locality, the seriousness of the disease as seen in pregnant women caused considerable alarm among those in charge of obstetric cases. It soon became apparent that there was a great diversity of experience as regards the mortality, some of the practitioners losing most of their cases, others very few. In addition to its importance in contributing toward a more definite knowledge concerning the prognosis of influenza in pregnant women, it has seemed to me that a statistical study based on a large number of cases would also be of value in showing the effect of the influenza on the course of pregnancy. Owing to its severity and wide occurrence, and to the fact that it was especially prevalent among young women of the child-bearing age, the epidemic offered the best opportunity we