“Allergic Disease Specialists Needed”

Press, Volume C, Issue 29444, 21 February 1961, Page 16

“Allergic Disease Specialists Needed”

‘There appears to be a great dearth in New Zealand of specialists in the allergic diseases, such as asthma and hay fever. I have not heard mention of one such specialist all the time I have been back in this country,” Dr. C. J. C. Britton said in Christ-

church yesterday. T Dr. Britton, who was born in Wellington, is a Harley street specialist in allergies and blood diseases. He is paying his first visit to New Zealand since leaving Christchurch Hospital to take a position in England 25 years ago.

“In Europe, a more intensive effort is being made to treat allergic diseases than ever in the past,” Dr. Britton said. “Many allergic-disease clinics have been opened. But in New Zealand, treatment seems restricted to what can be given by non-specialists. There is some skin-testing and

other work in hospitals, but much fuller treatment is possible. “Yet, my basic training in allergic diseases was received here in Christchurch, under Dr. A. B. Pearson; and Dr. E. G. Sayers, now with his hands full as Dean of the Otago Medical School, used to do specialist work in this field when he was in Auckland. “You have plenty of cases here, although your wonderful climate prevents you having nearly as many as in the United Kingdom.” Leukaemia Incteasing On 1 his other specialty, blood diseases, Dr. Britton said that the chief of them, leukaemia, was “getting definitely more common.” He did not think the increasing number of cases reported might be due simply to improved diagnosis, since even 30 years ago knowledge and techniques were wellenough advanced to recognise this disease. “There are a number of different kinds of leukaemia, some much more chronic than and some extremely acute,” said Dr. Britton. “But drugs now available can in most cases cause regression of the disease for a longer time, even although there is no known cure.” The three main drugs used, he said, were all of British origin. The cause of the increasing incidence of leukaemia was not at all certain, Dr Britton said. Asked whether radio-active fallout might be responsible, he said that it was "by no means proven” that the rise in the level of radioactivity was the main factor in the increase, although there was no doubt that there was a higher rate of leukaemia than normal among the Japanese who had been exposed to large doses of radiation in nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There was no indication so far of any fall in the incidence of the disease after the suspension of nuclear bomb tests in 1958, but such an effect could not yet be expected in any case as leukaemia usually took several years to develop. Yesterday, Dr. Britton visited the Christchurch and Princess Margaret hospitals. He said the pathology department at the Christchurch Hospital was “a very excellent unit the equal of, if not better than, those in the teaching hospitals overseas.” Like all pathology departments, hows

ever, he said it “was obviously requiring more space as more and more tests came to be needed;”

Born in Wellington in 1904, and resident there for the first seven years of his life, Dr. Britton subsequently lived in Wanganui, where he studied at the Technical College, finishing his post-primary education at Nelson College. From Nelson he went to the Medical School in Dunedin, subsequently serving in the Auckland Public Hospital for three years. Dr. Britton later returned to Dunedin to teach in the Medical School for two years and then obtained a special scholarship which the Middlesex Hospital, one of the most important in London, maintains for New Zealanders. In his case it was extended for a year.

He then returned to New Zealand and joined the staff of Christchurch Hospital as an assistant to Dr. Pearson in the pathology department. During the recent British Medical Association conference at Auckland, Dr, Britton delivered the Pearson Memorial Lecture which commemorates his former chief.

After three years in Christchurch Dr. Britton was offered the post of assistant pathologist at the Middlesex Hospital and he returned to London. Since 1947 he has been in consultant practice in Harley street, and today he is regarded as one of the world’s authorities on blood diseases. He is consultant pathologist and haematologist to no fewer than seven London hospitals. “Disorders of the Blood,” which he wrote in collaboration with the late Sir Lionel Whitby, an eminent British authority, is now considered a standard work. Dr. Britton is now preparing the ninth edition of the book. Dr. Britton will leave Christchurch by air on Wednesday for home.