AN EPIDEMIC OF SICKNESS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 232, 30 September 1902, Page 2

AN EPIDEMIC OF SICKNESS.

LARGE NUMBERS AFFECTED. An epidemic, the origin of which is unknown, but which presents very severe features, has attacked a large number of persons -within the last month or two, while up to the present there seems no sign of its abatement. Recent arrivals from Wellingj ton report an exactly similar state of j things in that city, while the epiI demic is also prevalent in the chief cities of the South Island. The local medical men are divided in opinion as to what the complaint really is, but the consensus of opinion seems to be that it is a form of gastroenterics. Others consider that it is a form of English cholera. As an epidemic the disease is new to Auckland, and its cause ha^ not been traced. Its effects are very serious, several deaths of old people having occurred as a result of the complaint. In .the majority of cases, however, the sickness resolves to treatment, though some of the cases have proved very obstinate. All the doctors in the city have been very busy in combatting'tlie disease, which is very wide* spread, cases being found all over the city and suburbs, while a few country cases have also been reported. In the poorly drained and otherwise insanitary portions of the ! town the cases have been most numj erous. The symptoms vary slightly in different patients, but the most pronounced characteristics of the disease are acute diarrhoeaj with which the attack generally begins, severe vomiting, pains in the left side, cramps in the lower part of the abdomen, and great thirst. Severe stomachic irratibility is present in most cases, while the larger intestines are also affected, the transverse and descending colons being generally inflamed. It is generally considered that the epidemic is toxic ;in origin, that is to say, that it is caused by a poisonous microbe, though by what means this is distributed is entirely unknown. The disease appears to be contagious, as in some cases the whole family has been prostrated at once. Against this is the fact that the majority of the patients have had the disease without any of the contacts being seized. Most of the patients are adults, the number of children affected being small in comparison with other epidemics, while the cases of persons over fifty have been very few indeed. Though the cases present similar features, the cause of the epidemic is not yet traceable. It is evidently not caused by the water supply, since many of the local cases are outside the city water area, and since exactly ! the same disease is noticeable in i other cities. I' The complaint does not come within the list of infectious diseases which have to be reported to the District Health Officer, but owing to its widespread character Dr. Makgill has interested himself iv it, and is endeavouring to elucidate its cause. With this object in view he has forwarded a circular to all the doctors I practising in Auckland, requesting ! them to forward particulars of all cases of acute diarrhoea since -Sepj tember 1, together with any observa-f tions as to similarity in attack, and when the first cases occurred. The information asks for also includes occupation of patient, place of work or school, sources of water, meat and milk supplies, groceries, baking powder, vegetables,, aerated waters, cordials, etc.< together with a list of the foods partaken of immediately before the illness began, including jthe kind of meat, fish, vegetables, condiments, jams and drinks.

Some of the doctors consider that the epidemic may have been imported into Auckland by the troopers returning from South Africa, but Dr. Sharman, port health officer, who has had excellent opportunities of studying the illnesses of these men, does not agree with this view. None of the troopers have had complaints approximating this in character, and it is hardly likely that there would he an epidemic of a complaint introduced by troopers without that complaint being also epidemic with the men themselves. Dr. Sharman met with a similar epidemic in Leicester, where it recurred annually, most of the patients residing on made ground.

Sickness is very prevalent in Onehunga at the present time, takiup the form of dysentery, vomitinig, high pulse and fever, and the opinion that it is due to the water has been fast gaining ground, but this could hardly be the case unless some drainage or surface water is percolating into the Onehunga collectir. *. ponds, from which the supply is drawn. Factories, many of them, are working shorthanded at the present time in consequence of the aibove sickness attacking their employees—in several factories from fifteen to twenty-five employees being absent at one time.