POLIOMYELITIS OUTBREAK

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27916, 13 March 1956, Page 12

POLIOMYELITIS OUTBREAK

Children Kept Away From Two Schools ACTION BY PARENTS One hundred and thirty-nine children attending the Darfield and Weedons primary schools were kept at home by their parents yesterday. At Darfield 76 out of 117 pupils were kept at home because two poliomyelitis cases have occurred in the one class. One of the cases, a six-year-old boy, died last Friday. * No pupils out of the 63 on the school roll at Weedons have attended the school for a week. The secretary-manager of the Canterbury Education Board (Mr W. P. Spencer) said last night that two polio cases had occurred at the Royal New Zealand Air Force Station at Weedons, which contributed about half the children at the school. He said that there had also been some suspicion of contamination in the water supply at Weedons. “The parents at Weedons became concerned about the polio outbreak and the suspicion of water contamination,” he said. “They decided on these grounds to keep their childern at home.

“The Health Department took a sample of the water on Wednesday and the report showed that the water was first-class both bacteriologically and chemically.” Anxiety at Darfield

The mother of two Darfield schoolgirls who were in the same class as the boy who died on Friday said last evening: “Evidently there is quite a lot of red tape in connexion with shutting of schools because of polio. The authorities evidently don’t shut the schools till the parents take it into their own hands. “I feel the toilet facilities at Darfield School are not satisfactory for the number of children there.” she said. “There are only about three hand basins at the school. The teachers can’t keep an eye on every child to see that they wash properly. The headmaster said that to me when I telephoned him. We mothers feel rather strongly about it.” The mother said that while she kept her two children home she could see to it that they kept clean and did not get overtired.

A mother of several children attending Darfield Primary School said: “We mothers do not think it just a mere coincidence that two children in the same class got polio. It’s not just airborne as the medical authorities say. The two little boys who got polio were more or less sitting side by side in class.

“We only intend to keep our children home for a week if there are no more polio cases at Darfield. We are not actually going on strike.” she said. “But it’s a bit of a ‘knock back’ in a small community like this to have a polio death and another polio case in the same class.” Authorities Notified

The chairman of the Darfield School Committee (Mr A. G. Elstob) said last night that the committee took immediate action to notify the Education Board of the refusal of many parents to send their children to school. The committee also obtained advice immediately from the Health Department.

“If the parents want to keep their children home We respect their right to do so.” he said.

Mi- Spencer said the question of closing schools because of a poliomyelitis outbreak really rested with the Health Department. “The Health Department feels that no real purpose is served by closing Darfield school, and it will remain open at the moment.” Mr Spencer said. “There is no reason why Weedons school should not resume tomorrow now that the water supply has been nroved satisfactory.” MORE CASES IN CHRISTCHURCH Five fresh positive or suspected cases of poliomyelitis were reported to the Health Department in Christchurch yesterday. Two positive cases wore from the metropolitan area and three suspected cases were notified from the suburbs. * The cases included four females and one male* ranging from nine years to 30 years of age. In the weekly period ended last Saturday, eight positive cases and seven suspected cases were reported in the Christchurch part of the Christ-church-Greymouth Health District. There was one death from the disease, a boy aged six years from Darfield. Only one case of poliomyelitis was reported in the Greymouth area for the week. SIXTY REPORTED IN N.Z. LAST WEEK (New Zealana Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 12. Sixty cases of poliomyelitis, including one death, were reported throughout New Zealand last week. The death occurred at Christchurch, where 15 cases were reported. Other local figures were: Whangarei 1. Auckland 7, Tauranga 3, Hamilton 1, Gisborne 2, Wellington 8, Timaru 1. Dunedin 2, Palmerston North 8. Nelson 8, Greymouth 1, and Invercargill 3.