THE EPIDEMIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 31, 6 February 1925, Page 7

THE EPIDEMIC.

HOW IT IS FOUGHT. WORK OF DOCTORS AND NURSES. THE H_A_Ti_ DErARTMKVr'S ACTIVir[_S. The Auckland District Health officer (Dr. T. J. Hughes) gave :i -star" representative some interottn,; and reassuring information regarding the various channels through which the Health. Department is fighting the, infantile paralysis epidemicDr. Hughes said it. xvas apparently not generally knoxvn that the school medical officers xvere taken over by the Department very shortly after the commencement of the epidemic, together xvith the school nurses. These doctor* nnd nurses have been spending the xvholc of their time in visiting cases as they have been notified and in examining contacts, especially xvith a viexv to finding out any oiber persons in the house xvho might be suffering from the abortive type of the disease. As Medical Oflircr of Health. Dr. Hughes himself has been collecting all available facts, especially as regards patients' premonitory symptoms, i.e.. symptoms before any paralysis occurs. Inspectors have been collecting infnrmation xvith regard tn insanitary conditions, the presence nf tlies or other insects, and other information to assist in tracing infection. Information is also being gathered in regard tn milk and water supplies. Overrrnxvding ami any other points which may prove of vnlue are not, bcintr nxcrlookcd. Special reports are being obtained from general practitioners in charge of cases, no fpxver than 20 different points being brought out in the list of questions ansxvercd by the doctors. There are six doctors on the Auckland staff of the Department, four of whom are devoting their entire time to obtaining information xvhich may assist in throwing further light on the disease. At the same time, precautionary mea-sures arc being taken in connection with patients and contacts. When a case is not removed to hospital revisits are made in order to keep ill touch with the patients' symptoms as the cases progress. Contacts are also e-xamined in case symptoms should appear in f.hcm. In cases removed to the hospital full details are obtained by those in charge, and the history of each case is xvritten up. The Medical Officer pointed out in this connection that as the. majority ot cases are in young children it is more difficult to obtain the history of the cn«es before they come under the notice of the medical men than where the patients are older. However, every endeavour is being mnde by the local authority, and the same steps are being folloxved" in other places to obtain any information that may be of assistance in elucidating the -problem, all this being quite apart from the steps taken to prevent the. spread of the disease. Watch the Cat. Although at the present, time it lias been shown experimentally that the only animals xvhich contract the di-onsr are' monkeys, nevertheless ii has been noted ill all epidemics thai paralysis occurs in domestic animals. Doctors have generally put this dnxxn to coincidence, but the Health Department is taking nn risks in the matter, and wherever such cases are reported llie animals are forwarded to the bacteriologists and pathologists. Poultry occasionally become paralysed, and a case is reported where a cat belonging to an Auckland family developed the disease. The Department did not secure the cnt, xvhich died, but they xvere able jto get her four kittens, xvhich had suhI seqiiently died, and their bodies xvere iorxvarded for examination. Question of Infection. Some doubt appears to exist in the lay mind as to xvhethcr infantile paralysis is really infectious. The fact that ns a rule only one cas>> appears in a family having puzzled many people. Dr. Hughes, dealing xvith the point, sa i,| it had been proved several times that. a germ-carrier during the present, epidemic, had visited areas xvhere no cases had occurred, and subsequently the disease broke out. Generally there xvas only one case xvhere the paralysis developed but the rest of the' household usually was found to contain persons xvho had contracted some of the preliminary symptoms. Obviously such isolated outbreaks were attributable to the visit of the germ-carrier.