SORE MOUTHS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 114, 10 November 1943, Page 3

SORE MOUTHS

A MILD EPIDEMIC O.C. . AUCKLAND, November 9. * There has been a mild epidemic of . sore mouths among Auckland people in £ the last few days, most of the com- *; plaints coming from women, who have * expressed the fear that the infection * might have resulted from visits to tea- F rooms. Medical authorities said that f they had noticed no increase in the • incidence of sore mouths lately, but ~ agreed that it was possible to be in- r fected by contact with unsterilised crockery. £ The Medical Officer of Health, Dr. ° T. J. Hughes, said there had been | trouble some time ago as the result of * the use of chipped crockery in tea- 1 rooms and restaurants, but there had been an improvement through the efforts of his Department to obtain re- t placements of crockery for these places. .. Infection was more likely where chip- _ ped crockery was used, as it was not £ so easily cleaned. ' When the symptoms were described g to a doctor he said the condition was £ similar to that commonly known as trench mouth. It was highly infec- <■ tious and was not unusual among child- . ren, but he had not noticed any in- * crease. He expressed the opinion that the proper sterilisation of eating and E drinking utensils should be more wide- £ ly adopted and that after the war, r vhen the present difficulties were les- j sened, there should be a drastic tight- r ening-up of the regulations relating t to eating-houses. c