SMALLPOX.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18186, 24 September 1924, Page 10

SMALLPOX.

EPIDEMICS ABROAD. (PEESS ASSOCIATION TELEGBAH.) WELLINGTON, September 23. The following statement was made today by the Director-General of Health: On Friday last the- Ministry or Health, England, announced that smallpox is spreading in England and Wales, that it is prevalent in 91 districts and that case 3 total 2750. compared with 1810 during the corresponding period of 1923. The type experienced so far in England has been on all fours with that of the New Zealand epidemic of 1914, which-was confined to the North Island and affected principally Maoris. It caused 5," deaths (all Maoris), and recurred in Otago in 1920, again in mild form. The recent outbreak reported from Pittsburg, United States of America, was checked by prompt measures. It was severe, proving fatal to 20 per cent, of those stricken. . The New Zealand Department of Health liad twice in the last three months warned port health officers to be alert. Should smallpox in a moderate or severe form enter the Dominion, or occur within it, its spread can lie prevented only by the prompt segregation of cases, and the isolation and vaccination of contacts. The protection a (forded by vaccination, and, preferably, revaccination at ten-year intervals or by a previous attack of the disease itself, is still regarded as the only reliable safeguard. Should the disease assume epidemic form, the Minister of Health is empowered to declare an area in which all healthy persons sh.ill be compulsorily vaccinated. There is no occasion for alarm, but a rush for vaccination is Objectionable, and as a preventive measure parents arc advised to liave their children vaccinated with care and precision by a medical practitioner acquainted with their medical history, or, if in poor circumstances, at the nearest public hospital after a careful examination of each child.