Medicine: No Respecter

Flu has hit 13% of the U.S. people so far this winter, reports Pollster George Horace Gallup. With several winter months to go, it may pass the 25% mark set in the 1940-41 season. In the last half of December 1943, colds passed the former Gallup-polled peak of February 1942, by 40%. During the two-week Christmas period of Dec. 17-30, a quarter of the population had colds. All in all, 66% of the U.S. people have suffered either from colds or from flu since the winter began.

Other flu news:

¶Last week the U.S. death rate was pushed up sharply by the flu: 19.4 per 1,000. This is 2.3 points above the previous week.

¶People may have to stop sneezing around pigs: swine, too, have been getting influenza lately. The Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association says that no connection between human and pig influenza has been proved, but observes darkly that flu tends to occur in both species at the same time. As among people, flu deaths among swine have been low.