DETECTION OF PKU
Measures In NX (N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON. October 23. The Child Health Council would discuss the introduction of a blood test to reveal the presence in babies of phenylketonuria (pku), a disease which leads to mental backwardness If untreated, a spokesman for the New Zealand Paediatric Society said today.
Professor Sydney Gellia, of Boston, a leading figure in paediatrics, said when he arrived in Wellington on Sunday that a drop of blood from a baby’s heel could now be analysed to reveal the presence of pku.
Children’s doctors attending the Paediatric Society’s course this week at Wellington Hospital Medical Centre, where Professor Gellis is guest speaker, will see a demonstration of the test technique at the National Health Institute.
In the meantime, said the spokesman, a urine test introduced about two years and a half ago to detect pku would continue in New Zealand. The urine test was not reliable before a child was three weeks old, so must be done after it left hospital. Since not all babies were seen by a Plunket or Public Health Nurse, the present test was not covering ail Infants.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CII, Issue 30270, 24 October 1963, Page 2
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189DETECTION OF PKU Press, Volume CII, Issue 30270, 24 October 1963, Page 2
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