MYSTERY VIRUS IDENTIFIED
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) BRISBANE, September 24. A mystery virus which killed 16 babies in Queensland earlier this year has been identified as “North Carolina 63,” the DirectorGeneral of Health and Medical Services in Queensland (Dr. A. Fryberg) said today.
Dr. Fryberg told reporters there was no known antibiotic which could be used against the virus.
He said a Melbourne virologist, Dr. Frank Warburton, working on specimens of the lungs of five of the babies had identified the “North Carolina” virus in four of them.
The virus is so named because it was first discovered during an influenza epidemic in North Carolina last year. The first wave of deaths among babies in Queensland —many of them under 12
months old—occurred in June. Then reports of similar deaths came in to health authorities over a period of several weeks.
“Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about the virus,” Dr. Fryberg said today. “People with this virus would be treated in the same manner as they would be for any other form of ’flu,” he said.
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Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30555, 25 September 1964, Page 15
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177MYSTERY VIRUS IDENTIFIED Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30555, 25 September 1964, Page 15
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