HAY FEVER PREVALENT IN AUCKLAND PROVINCE

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6808, 11 January 1929, Page 9

HAY FEVER PREVALENT IN AUCKLAND PROVINCE

A number of Auckland residents are at present suffering from the very irritating complaint of hay fever (says the Herald). While not a serious ailment, hay fever can make life very unpleasant, and is more common in Auckland than in any other part of the Dominion. While people are generally inclined to make jokes about it, it may not bo generally known that it has been the subject of scientific investigation in the United States, where it is most prevalent, and eminent spcialists devote all their time to its treatment.

Hay fever attacks people in the dry summer months, when pollen from glasses is scattered far and wide in the air. The pollen, which is often blown into the city, attacks numbers of townspeople. The fever causes an irritation of the nose and eyes, and ig nearly always accompanied by violent fits of sneezing or the almost maddening desire to sneeze.

Hay fever renders life miserable for its victims, and if it is not looked after, may lead to asthma in later life —a disease akin to it. The treatment of hay fever has now been brought down to a very sure scientific basis, and is effected by the injection of extract of pollen in increasing doses. By thistreatment a victim becomes desensitised to the disease. In other words, his nerves become so used to pollen, that the breathing in of it does not affect him.

A prominent Auckland surgeon, who recently returned from a trip abroad, and who took an interest in hay fever treatment, said the complaint had been scientifically investigated by prominent scientists, and now it was not regarded at all seriously. In fact, it could be cured quite easily. He visited one haspital, where 70 children were being treated at the one time.