DOCTORS BAFFLED

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13341, 19 May 1941, Page 4

DOCTORS BAFFLED

FITNESS OF_ BRITISH HEALTH STANDARD HIGHER THAN IN PRE-WAR DAYS NO TIME TO DWELL. ON MINOR AILMENTS Rugby, May 16. The United States is sending to Britain a committee of American medical men to try to find out why the people came through the winter’s ordeal with better .health than in the years of peace. Medical men generally are completely baffled by the nation’s fitness. They feared that after the nights of crowding in air raid shelters and exposure to all weathers when on A.R.P. and fire-watching duties epidemics might sweep the country. In actual fact, there have been fewer cases of scarlet fever, diphtheria, uneumonia, typhoid fever, and only half the number of deaths from influenza. Whooping cough and meningitis alone have been rather more prevalent than usual. Britain’s own doctors offer various explanations, among them the disoersal of the densely populated areas, the improved system of health supervision, the spread of education in preventive measures, and the attendance of fewer ,people at the cinemas and in other public places. All. however, are agreed that the busy and hazardous life led bv 40.000,000 leaves them neither time nor ’bWmation to brood over minor ailments.