INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 January 1925, Page 4

INFANTILE PARALYSIS

MILITARY CAMPS CANCELLED. TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION. WELLINGTON, Jan. 21. In consequence or the prevalence of infantile paralysis the commandant of the New Zealand Military Forces has instructed the cancellation until fur-< ther notice of all camps and parades for cadet units in the northern and central military commands. Territorial camps -and parades will be held as usual. NO FRESH OASES IN WANGANUI. WANGANUI, Jan. 21. No eases of infantile paralysis have been reported since Monday evening. REMARKS BY SIR TRUBY KING. When asked at Auckland concerning the work of the Plunket Society during the present trouble, Sir Truby King said the nurses were keenly alive to the. situation, and were carefuL to give precautions to mothers. Talking of the disease, he pointed out that the term “infantile paralysis” was misleading; because, though the great majority of cases occurred in children under five years of age, school children were by no means immune, and they, and even adults who bad been in close association with infected persons, often acted as' “carriers,” in spite of the fact that they may not have felt or been apparently ill. themselves. “The great point for everyone to understand at the present juncture,” continued Sir Truby, “is that in probably 95 cases out of 100 infantile paralysis is conveyed from one person to another through microbes inhaled from the breath of someone who lia.s recently had the disease, or may only have been in close association with an infected person and become a ‘carrier.’ No child should be brought unnecessarily nearer than three or four feet from anyone who may be a source of infection—beyond that distance germs can scarcely lie conveyed from one person to another through coughing or ( breathing.”