Waikato patients carry polio

Press, 18 June 1986, Page 8

Waikato patients carry polio

PA Hamilton The Health Department will know later this week if there is an outbreak of polio in the Waikato area. In the meantime the department urges parents to ensure that their children are vaccinated against the poliomyelitis virus, which can cause paralysis. The departmental investigation has become necessary because 24 patients at Waikato hospital have been detected as carrying the virus. Hamilton’s Acting Medical Officer of Health, Dr Alistair Millar, said the patients had been admitted for other reasons and the virus had been detected in routine virus screening of specimens. The patients ranged from babies to elderly persons and did not come from a specific area in Waikato. Dr Millar said the obvious factor of laboratory contamination was being investigated. But the affected patients were all being visited to find out when they were last vaccinated against polio. The department was also taking specimens from schoolchildren to establish whether the polio virus ms in the community. v