SMALLPOX.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume III, Issue 188, 25 July 1913, Page 3

SMALLPOX.

TO-DAY’S BULLETIN. I PEP. FRI-S A--I'ClAl !uN. i Wellington,-July 24. The following official bulletin dealing with the smallpox outbreak'-was issued by Health Department at 9.30 this evening:—■ - ; There are 52 eases isolated at tiie infectious diseases hospital at Auckland, 10 being Europeans. "Dr. Te Rangihiroa, M.P., reports some 72 cases in the Bay of Islands district, 4 being acute and 18 convalescent. "Dr. Cawkwell reports from Tautf re that the disease is more evident among young people. "A case is reported at Whangarua. "Dr. Ross reports that he has vaccinated 400 persons in the Raglan district. Dr. Cozens is at Tekohoi. He lias seen no suspicious cases. "There is an ample supply of lymph available.” THE AUCKLAND CASES. NATIVE TRAVELLING RESTRICTIONS. Auckland, July 2t. Only one additional case of the prevailing epidemic was sent to the isolation hospital at Point Chevalier. The patient is a European, a driver by occupation. He was removed from Morningside, and is known u have been in contact with Maoris. Like other European patients he is suffering from a very mild, form of the disease. AIL the sufferers in isolation are reported to be making favourable progress. The total number now under Dr. Spedding’s care at Point Chevalier is 52.

• When questioned as to the steps ! the Health Department is taking to [ restrict the movements of Maoris in j infected areas, Dr. Frengley stated 'that the proclamations prohibiting ' Natives from travelling from such ’ 'districts were proving effectual. As ; illustrating this he said coinplaints , were reaching the health office that 'in some infected districts Maoris I were being so efficiently restricted to i their own settlements that they were | having some difficulty in obtaining I food supplies. In such cases the department had taken immediate steps to see that the needs of the Maoris in question were provided for. Dr. Frengley said that with the copious supplies of lymph now com- ■ ing to hand it was hoped to have [ the whole of the Natives in the disI trict vaccinated by the end of next : week. I Dr. Eleanor Baker, at Kaihou, has > advised the health office that conva- > lescent Maoris in that district do not | “take” after vaccination. She says ’ she has only* found the epidemic in ' one patient, who had been vaccinat'ed previously.' This was an old i Maori, who must have been vaccinat- ! ed 40 years ago, and whose wife had j been very ill with the disease.

The Chief Health Officer has written to the Hospital Board asking them to bring under the notice of all public vaccinators the necessity for scrupulous cleanliness in performing operations, and also for the careful sterilisation of all instruments after vaccinating each patient. This action is in consequence of a complaint that sufficient care was not being exercised by some vaccinators. The precautions taken to prevent the spread of the disease among Natives at Parakera were criticised to-day by Dr. J. S. Reekie, of Te Awamutu. About 100 Natives comprise the settlement, which is situated about 10 miles from Te Awamutu. During last week the people were all assembled in the Native schoolhouse for vaccination and given instruction to remain in their homes and clean up the settlement, but Dr. Reekie states that no further attention was given to them, nor were steps taken to enforce the directions given to them until the beginning of the week.

IX THE WAIKATO DISTRICT. Hamilton. .Tv. v 2 1. Two cases rf smallpox were re ported to day at Te Rapa, a ft”' miles from Hamilton. The Waikato Hospital Board haw decided to write to the Minister cl Railways requesting the d.ai’y fund gation of ali carriages am! mo:> drastic steps to stamp cut th< disease. One member declared that it was outrageous the callous indif ference of the Government. The local health inspector waiter on the board and asked for the ap pointnient of several sub inspectors as it was impossible for him to copt with the rapid spread of the disease. He said that unless additional pre cautions were immediately taken thi disease would spread al over tb< country. The disease must exist :r numerous Native districts not yet visited. Complaints were also made to the board of Natives being allowed to wander at large in Waikato, cspeci ally in the infected district <■! Whatawhata. where they blocked the post office all day. using the tele phone. DISCUSSION IN THE HOUSE. Wellington. July £l. Mr. Russell asked the Minister .-.f Public Health whether he was quite satisfied that every tiling possibh was being done in connection will: the outbreak r.f smallpox. He hoped that expense would not be stinted lithe matter. He favoured unlimited expense in stamping out the disease. Mr. Pearce said the lymph used among the Maoris at Wanganui was ineffective. Dr. Pomare said Natives in the in feeted areas were m.-t allowed to travel beyond the infected areas be fore they could show that they had been successfully vaccinated. It was net fair to pre”ent Natives not in infected areas from travelling. The Hon. R. 11. Rhodes said th< Health Department was doing everything possible to p:> ; the spread of the disease. He could no: say people were m.t getting away from infected areas. It was net necessary to insist that Natives should receive certificates of vaccin

al ion if they did not come from infected area-’. He had received a telegram from Dr. Te Rangihiro i. who was doing excellent work among the Macris in the North. He stated that he had seen 91 cases of

pronounced smallpox among the Maoris. He (the Minister) was quite certain that the;, must treat the disease as smallpox. To date ten deaths had been reported, ail being Natives. Mr. No.-worthy asked if the Go vernutent would insist on all passengers for the South being vaccin ated as a proper course to take in the interests of the- Southern people.

Dr. Newman said sanitation would do no good. There was only one remedy, that was vaccination. : The Hon. Mr. Rhodes, replying, j 'lid Cabinet considered daily inc j matter of insisting on vaccination ' before passengers communicated I between the two islands. All Maori I Councils were actively clearing up | the kaingas. If found necessary he I would recommend to Cabinet the ! isolation ci* the North Island. That : depended mainly on whether any I more cases occurred in Welling I ton. NATIVE “CARRIERS.” I [SPECIAL TO “THE TRIBI’NE.” 1 I Parliament spent an hour to-day ■ discussing the epidemic, and many aspects were covered, including the merits and demerits of vaccination, the certificating of Natives and the preservation of the present clean state of the South Island. In referring to the Natives, Mr. [H. M. Campbell (Hawke’s Bay) j specially emphasised the desirability of vaccinating them and regulating their travelling excursions. He stated that to-day he had heard of a case of a Native having ridden right i down from the Bay of Island to [Hawke’s Bay. Now, by staying at | the pahs en route he could spread i the disease through the whole island. I Mr. Massey: Was he vaccinated 1 Mr. Campbell: No; he was not I even vaccinated. [ In reply to the questions raised, ; the Hon. R. H. Rhodes assured the House that the Department of Public Health was doing everything possible to cope with the situation. If it had been aware of the outbreak in good time it could have taken definite steps to prevent its spread. In regard to the Natives, when they were in an infected sjrea they required certificates as to successful vaccination before they could travel and even then if there was danger that infection would be spread, they would not be allowed to travel. So far as enforcing vaccination upon travellers going to the South Island, this was not being done as yet, but Cabinet was daily in consideration of the point and in the event of further cases in Wellington, he would recommend that this be done, AUSTRALIAN EPIDEMIC. NEW SOUTH WALES CASES. [PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIOITT. i Sydney, July 24. There were five new cases of smallpox to-day, all young men. One of them, being from the Domain, has no permanent abode. The case at Grenfell has been diagnosed as smallpox. ORIGIN OF OUTBREAK. Sydney, July 24. Dr. Paton now claims that the smallpox came from Cuba, whence it spread right across the United States and reached Australia 'and New Zealand on one of the Vancouver mail boats. He adds that at any rate New Zealand did not get it from Australia. DEATHS ALTER VACCINATION., Sydney, July 21. | j Two death after vaccination caus- !( fl the public some uneasiness in view of tlie severe effects in many cases following the injection. In the first ease the doctor stated that it was not due to vaccination.

In the second the coroner refused to accept the certificate until a post mortem had been held. I he doctor reported that death was due to heart and kidin y disease, in no way associated with vaccination. INEFFECTIVE NEW ZEALAND LYMPH. Dr. Harris, of Newcastle, states tliat when he found the first fifty tubes of lymph from Auckland were ineffective, he cabled inquiring and got a reply stating that it was supplied by the Health Department. Dr. Harris says that the first fifty tubes were weak. Another fifty had arrived but seemed slightly different. SPREAD TO ADELAIDE. Adelaide. July 24. A woman in the Hawthorne suburb has developed smallpox. She visited Sydney recently. SCARE IN MELBOURNE. Melbourne. July 24. The scare has subsided and the vaccination bureaus are empty. Dr.Cumpston is of opinion that Melbourne can be declared a clean city. If the passenger by the Karoo’.a who developed smallpox had infected anybody, the disease wotud now be noticeable. Nearly all the Karoola’s passengers have been released from quarantine. APPEARANCE IN QUEENSLAND (Received 25, 9.20 a.m.) x Brisbane, July 25. A case of smallpox has appeared in the Ipswich district. The Government lias ordered the prisoners in all gaols to be vaccinated. Strict precautions are enforced on passengers arriving by trains from New South Wales. SOURCES OF INFECTION. A CONSTANT DANGER. Sydney, July 18. The wonder is not that smallpox has broken out in Sydney, but that disease lias been kept out for so long, says the current issue of the “ Australasian Medical Gazette.’’

the organ of the British Medical Association.

According to this authority, all competent to speak on the question have from time to time expressed the view that smallpox must gain a foothold in Australia sooner or later. Communication between India and the Far East, where smallpox is always more or less endemic, on the one hand, and Australia on the other is so frequent nowadays, rrd the duration of the voyages so shirt, i that cases in the incubation period of the disease might easily, it is ' pointed out, be landed on our shores, I more especially in view of the fact I that calls are now made at such places as the Philippines, Timor, and other parts of the East Indian Archipelago. "The present epidemic has reached us from America, and, fortunately, in one of the mildest forms smallpox can take,” the medical paper proceeds. "Had its origin been Asia, where the type of disease, seems uniformly’ virulent, the prospect before Sydney would have been black indeed. Are we as a community prepared for this misfortune which has befallen us ’ Are we vaccinated to such an extent as to be able to withstand successfully the introduction of the more virulent form of the disease. The answer, in each case, is an emphatic No I In some of the .States, where compulsory vaccination is law, a large percentage of the population, it is true, are protected,but even -then there is room to do much more, especially in the matter of re-vaccination. In other States, the Vaccination Act has been halfheartedly enforced, whilst in New South Wales, for instance, where legislation is absent, only a very small proportion are vaccinated at all. The medical profession, from time to time, have done their best to obtain the passage of suitable Vaccination Bills through Parliament, and have consistently, in their practice, advocated vaccination and even revaccination. In the absence of a scare, their efforts have borne little fruit, and our isolation, to an unthinking public, has seemed a safe and efficient protection.” The article concludes: “We cannot afford V 1 lose a single life by smallpox—not an individual therefore must remain, unvaccinated. Mr. T. C. Moore, public voecirn-' tor. will visit Rjssmgte.n, Patoka and Puketitiri to-morrow for the purpose of vaccinating the school children m thbse places. Large numbers of businessman are protecting themselves out 1 WO-’icv, with As nrfiey pro videsJbs a dur ing disable m|(mby accident <„r sickness sniZll and and the p/cimp*tr3 only half yearly. c 4T5 Nanier or 551 or 481 Hastings.

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