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. 2010 Dec;16(12):1931-7.
doi: 10.3201/eid1612.100429.

Mortality risk factors for pandemic influenza on New Zealand troop ship, 1918

Jennifer A Summers  1 , Nick Wilson, Michael G Baker, G Dennis Shanks
Affiliations

Mortality risk factors for pandemic influenza on New Zealand troop ship, 1918

Jennifer A Summers et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2010 Dec.

Abstract

We describe the epidemiology and risk factors for death in an outbreak of pandemic influenza on a troop ship. Mortality and descriptive data for military personnel on His Majesty's New Zealand Transport troop ship Tahiti in July 1918 were analyzed, along with archival information. Mortality risk was increased among persons 25-34 years of age. Accommodations in cabins rather than sleeping in hammocks in other areas were also associated with increased mortality risk (rate ratio 4.28, 95% confidence interval 2.69-6.81). Assignment to a particular military unit, the field artillery (probably housed in cabins), also made a significant difference (adjusted odds ratio in logistic regression 3.04, 95% confidence interval 1.59-5.82). There were no significant differences by assigned rurality (rural residence) or socioeconomic status. Results suggest that the virulent nature of the 1918 influenza strain, a crowded environment, and inadequate isolation measures contributed to the high influenza mortality rate onboard this ship.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
His Majesty’s New Zealand Transport Tahiti in Wellington Harbor (c. 1914–1919). Photograph was taken by an unidentified photographer (23).
Figure 2
Figure 2
His Majesty’s New Zealand Transport Tahiti with World War I troops alongside a wharf (c. 1915). This photograph was presumably taken in a Wellington, New Zealand, wharf, given the gauge of the railway tracks and the crane type. Photograph was taken by David J. Aldersley (24).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Cases of influenza and mortality rates for persons aboard His Majesty’s New Zealand Transport (HNZMT) Tahiti during an outbreak of pandemic influenza, 1918. Reported cases of influenza are approximate and the definition of a case was not precisely described. A, August 22, 1918, HMNZT Tahiti arrives in Sierra Leone; B, August 26, 1918, HMNZT Tahiti leaves Sierra Leone; C, September 10, 1918, HMNZT Tahiti arrives in England (subsequent deaths occurred in hospitals in England).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mortality rates for persons aboard His Majesty’s New Zealand Transport Tahiti, by age group, during an outbreak of pandemic influenza, 1918.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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