IN TFANTILE PARALYSIS.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2741, 8 April 1916, Page 3

IN TFANTILE PARALYSIS.

Sir—ls it not a fact that this outBreak is sporadic over the whole of the Dominion; not epidemic raging in one locality? If so, this" is something .to go. by, and is the key-note for investigation. ,

Infection is clearly not from one person to '..another by inhaling tho germs distributed by "carriers," as some authorities maintain, but per medium of the circulatory system,, through • the cuticle, and while' all this cleaning-up campaign can only "do-good, it is really .vside issue in regard to combating' tliis particularly dreadful disease known as "infantile paralysis" in the young, and "cerobro-spinal meningitis" in adults. • 1

No good, however, can come from scaring the. public by talking about

"carriers," and I fail to seo what good can come from closing the schools, except to make parents more susceptible and . nervous than ever. Infection is undoubtedly the direct result of an insect bice conveying the germ of the complaint, and it is very apparent that the mosquito, both inland and at the seaside (wherever swamps abound) is {lie enemy that has got to bo dealt with.

WhiTe_ at the present time we are having individual cases hero and there in New Zealand, next season will probably see an increased recurrence, unless the Health Department can cope successfuEy with it beforehand. Mosquitoes are notoriously, the world over, the most-deadly germ-carrier in tropical countries. You have your malarial fever, yellow fever, sleeping sickness, and other scourges, all to be attributed to this source, and now in the Dominion a percentage apparently of the mosquitoes are infected with this Eastern disease. I say Eastern disease, as all scourges are bred and born there, their appearance in more , tropical countries being a natural sequence. 'In our case the disease has made its advent here, and next summer a repetition of the past'hot trqpical weather recently experienced, wijl see a larger percentage of infected mosquitoes with a proportionately increasing number of victims.' As to how the disease may have originally arrived here

it has only to be realised that as the Dominion comes more into contact every day -with the outside world, owing to quicker communication, growth of imports and peonle themselves travelling .backwards and forwards on a larger scale, we must expect to introduce all manner of foreign and undesirable complaints. We cannot therefore hope to .maintain our previous "clean bill of

health," which was, up to a few years ago, our sovereign possession.

Our trouble now apparently is, that the Health Department need experts with a tropical experience, able to, cope at the outset with outbreaks such as this. At present the complaint will get a firm hold before progress iii the right direction is made. The first duty of the responsible authorities hero

would have been to get into communication with the "Government and Medical Research Departments, U.S.A., and ascertain the result of their investigations, and measures taken in stamping out their outbreak, when some thousands of children succumbed. This

outbreak did not recur to any great \ extent; and probably the steps taken will be found essential here. MosquitoSs would not be affected here in the first ease by human "carriers," but infected larval eggs could easily have been introduced in American timber, tropical fruit, merchandise from Japan/ America, or any of the Islands; ,or even in personal luggage brought from abroad; thus the inception, and once liere always here, if the conditions are suitable. As to the assertion that the disease is tho indirect or direct result of the heat of the sun's rays, while children especially should have their hefids protected in tlie open, it is surely not going to he assumed for a moment that this is the source of paralysis, and any svinntoms of chill are only natural in the initial stages after infection through the circulatory system.

Outbreaks occurred first in Dunedin. secondly at tho Trentham Camp. Why? Our Health Department is in a quandary, comprehensible perhaps, .but are they further advanced in ■'their combative measures now than, they were 12 months ago? Apparently not. All this city cleaning and scavengering is highly commendatory from a sanitary point of view, is necessary in any case, and should have been undertaken months ago; but what is more necessary is for the Health Department to grapple with this particular scourge by

sending one' of its experts abroad to pursue investigations where this disease has already hoen, and been stamped out ,in addition to their present laudable efforts. Expense should not count in a grave matter such as this. There is at tho present time clearly 110 absolute cure for the majority of the unfortunate victims, and in any case tlje disease leaves permanent disfigurement, therefore it is our duty to, if possible, remove the cause first and foremost, and tile authorities will need to act decisively in the right direction and on tho linos mentioned, without hesitation. —I am, etc.; SUBSCRIBER. •April 2, 1916.