INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22004, 30 January 1937, Page 18

INFANTILE PARALYSIS

TO TUB EDITOK OV TUB PRESS. Sir —In your paper yesterday I saw a suggestion that infantile paralysis may have originated by children coming in contact wi‘*i do S s suffering from distemper. May 1 suggest that the origin of the trouble may possibly be found in rabbits. I been told that it takes more than 24 hours hard boiling to sterilise surgical appliances. Dunedin was the place whey e the plague we suffered some years ago first broke out. Dunedin is a centre

of the rabbit industry and rabbits, I presume, are largely consumed as an article of diet. Two hours is more than the avex*age time used in cooking a rabbit, so what about the germs that you cannot see with the naked eye that survive the cooking process. A tender piece of rabbit is just the food that would appeal to a child, and the delicate constitution of the child would be more susceptible to attack than the vigour of an adult.—Yours, etC< ’ F. GREAD. Ataahua, January 26, 1937.

TO TUB EDITOR OP TUB PRESS,

Sir.—The health authorities seem to be taking ridiculous precautions to prevent the spreading of the apparently now dying epidemic. They have decided to postpone the athletic contest between Wellington and Canterbury for one week. Such precaution were it not annoying to many athletes. would be amusing. Perhaps someone could explain just how this unnecessary postponement for one week is going to do any good. Race meetings, tennis contests, cricket and so forth (with the exception of our unfortunate swimming fraternity) proceed as before. There is no mention of postponing events which are literally hotbeds for such an epidemic. Perhaps it would be too much_ bother trying to stop races or close picture theatres*, but athletics Is an easy victim. The postponement of a few paltry amateur foot races for a week will not affect many. It will only upset runners in their training and throw other plans and dates out of gear. Most athletes train hard, are healthy, and keep out of crowds very much more than the average of people do. The size of crowds that attend athletic contests cannot be compared with the hustling, crowding mobs that throng our many racecourses, or the tightly packed audiences that frequent theatres.

In fairness to athletes, why should their schedules be upset? Again I say, is the postponement for one week going to do any good—while other more dangerous sources continue their merr-y way?— Yours, etc.. J.P. January 28? 1937.

[When this letter was referred to the Medical Officer for Health, Dr. T. Fletcher Telford, he said: “Your correspondent admits that the measures taken by the department are having the effect of chocking the epidemic, and in this I consider he is right. I do not think that he should be restive in taking the advice to postpone for another week the athletic contest indicated. The cutting out of non-essential meetings has been successful in coping with the spread of the disease' as admitted by your correspondent in his statement.”]