SMALLPOX

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 24 September 1924, Page 5

SMALLPOX

SPREADING IN ENGLAND AND

WALES.

NEW ZEALAND PRECAUTIONS

HEALTH OFFICERS ON THE ALERT.

(BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION. ) WELLINGTON, Sept. 23. The following statement has been issued by the Director-General' of Health: -

‘ ‘On Friday last the Ministry of Health announced that smallpox is spreading in England and Whies.. It is prevalent in 91 districts, and the cases total 2750, compared with 1840 during the corresponding period of 1923. The type experienced so far in. England has been on all fours with that of New Zealand’s epidemic of 1914. which was confined to the North Island and affect-' ed principally Maoris. It caused 55 deaths (all Maoris). It recurred in Otago in 1920, again in a mild form. “A recent outbreak was reported from Pittsburg, United States of America, but was checked by prompt measures. It was severe, proving fatal to~2o per cent, of those stricken i

“The New Zealand Department of Health has twice in the last three months warned the port health.officers to be alert should smallpox in a moderate or severe form enter the Dominion or occur within. it. Its- spread can be prevented only by the prompt segregation of cases, isolation and vaccination, of contacts. The protection afforded by vaccination, and preferably revaccination at ten year, intervals, or by a previous attack of the disease itself, is still regarded as the only reliable safeguard. Should the disease assume an epideime form the Minister of Health is empowered to declare an area in which all healthy persons shall be compulsorily vaccinated. “There is no occasion for alarm, but a rush for vaccination is objectionable, and as _ a preventive measure parents are advised to have their children vaccinated .with care' and precision by a medical practitioner acquainted with their medical history, or if in poor circumstances,, at the nearest public hospital.”