HEALTH OFFICER'S VIEW.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 53, 2 March 1916, Page 6

HEALTH OFFICER'S VIEW.

Asked this morning whether there was any connection between the investigations at Christchurch and the warning against prolonged bathing recently issued by the Health Department from Wellington, Dr. T. J. Hughes, the Auckland District Health Officer, stated that the warning in question was issued as a 'result of a report sent by him to Wellington during the early stages of the disease pointing out that many of the patients had been visiting the beaches. Since that time, however, so many cases had occurred among children who had never been near a beach that not much importance could be attached to the matter. With regard to the reported discovery at Christchurch, Dr. Hughes said that it was quite possible that the fly in question might be one of the carriers, but it had to be remembered that other writers strongly held the view that human'beings acted as carriers, and that the disease was also disseminated in the air and by means of secretions of the nose and mouth. Thus he doubted whether the discovery, if confirmed, would help the authorities much in deal-1 ing with the disease, as parents would continue to take their children to the j seaside, and flies might spread the disease anywhere within a radius of half-, a-mile.