SLEEPY SICKNESS
DOCTORS' OPINIONS The danger of sleepy sickness (encephalitis lethargica) being spread by shipping was commented upon by Dr. T. J. Hughes, medical officer of health in Auckland, when a Sj-dney prediction that it was onlv a matter of time before the disease was spread in this manner from America to other parts of the world, was referred to him. He said he saw no reason to anticipate an epidemic here. Sporadic outbreaks of the disease showed there were carriers in the Dominion, but the complaint did not generally seem to be infectious.
The acting port health officer. Dr E. Vivian, said the chief danger of diseases being introduced from abroad was by aeroplanes, not shipping, for air journeys were so short that people could reach New Zealand from abroad before symptoms of most diseases appeared. Though some of the symptoms are the same, sleepy sickness is quite distinct from r.eepir.g sickness, the former being an infection of the nervous system and the latter bein™ spread bv the tsetse flv °
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Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 205, 30 August 1941, Page 8
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171SLEEPY SICKNESS Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 205, 30 August 1941, Page 8
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