PRECAUTIONS TAKEN

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 23, 28 January 1935, Page 11

PRECAUTIONS TAKEN

SMALLPOX ON AORANGI MINISTER'S STATEMENT (By Telegraph—Press Association.) I EUSSELL, January 27. , The action taken by the authorities I concerning the reported easo of small-! pox haying arrived in Sydney on board ( the Aorangi from New Zealand was described tonight by the Minister of Health, Sir Alexander Young. The Minister said; that on first hearing of the case he immediately communicated with th,c Director-General of Health,1 Dr. M. H. Watt, instructing that the fullest information be obtained from the New South Wales health authorities, and that no effort bo spared to trace all contacts with the patient who had landed at Auckland^ and keep them i under observation during the incuba-, tion period-and take completo action to safoguard the community from any spread of the disease. ' Official information received from, New South Wales indicated that tho patient, a second-class steward, showed the onset of the disease on January 16, and the ernption appeared.on January 20. The diagnosis revealed the disease to be varioloid. There are no other suspects. This information had been distributed to all medical officers-of'health,'Sir Alexander added! All passengers who landed in New Zealand from the Aorangi were under daily- surveillance until the complete incubation period had elapsed. He had the assurance of his Departmental head that there wore ample stocks of vaccine lymph in the Dominion, and supplies were being' distributed to the various health districts. If any case occurred immediate measures would be taken for the isolation and treatment of patients,■•disinfection of quarters, and vaccination of contacts. '