Baths Blamed For Ear Infection

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 63, 16 March 1938, Page 13

Baths Blamed For Ear Infection

TROUBLE EXTENSIVE Infections of middle car and related troubles among children and young people have been very common in Palmerston North and other parts of the Dominion this summer. Although doctors are not all of one mind on the matter, some of them hold strongly that contaminated water in swimming baths is responsible for most of the cases. One general practitioner in Auckland who has treated a great number of young patients stated on Saturday that the situation was quite alarming and called for preventive measures. In his experience practically all the cases occurred among school children and young people who wers in the habit of going frequently to swimming baths. There w r ere hardly any among older men and women. It was diffiult to avoid the conclusion that many of the patients had obtained the infection from the bath water. In his opinion, the state of swimming baths in Auckland should be ini vestigated more closely and' parents should encourage their children to bathe in open water only for the rest of the summer. Long, Hot Summer ‘‘There has been a terrific amount of infection this summer,” said a specialist. “I have about six mastoid cases a week, and as for infected ears, I am opening them every day. It is not too much to say that in my practice about 93 per cent, of these ear cases in the past two or three months are attributable to swimming baths, either directly or through inflammation of the nose and throat involving the ear later on.” It would not be going too far to suggest that there was a higher incidence of infection from baths than formerly, he continued. The summer had been unusually long and hot, there had been much more swimming than for some seasons past, and more children had been taught to swim. The higher average temperature of the bath water would encourage the germs to incubate, and would lead swimmers to stay in longer, increasing the risk. Another specialist, who agreed that the number of cases was abnormal, gave his opinion that nearly all the trouble was due to the bad practice of blowing the nose hard to get rid of water which ! ad found its way in. The effect of this I often was to force some of Tie water i into the middle ear. The water should be ‘ 1 snorted out” instead. High diving i and sneezing with the mouth closed 1 were also risky. There had been a good deal of influ* j enza and colds, and the specialist was I convinced that many children had been allowed to bathe before they had properly recovered. The hot weather tend- ! ed to make many stay in too long, with j the result that resistance was lowered and latent infection in the throat and nose ‘‘lit up.” Infection Passed On Dr. T. J. Hughes, medical officer of ! health for Auckland, when asked about the matter, said he had found that cases often occurred in family g.jups, sug gesting that infection had been passed from person to person in the ordinary way. Every eff t was made to ensure that the water in swimming baths was kept as pure as possible, and since last December health officers had been vested with additional powers in that regard. His own experience showed that even where a filter plant was not provided it was possible to keep the water of a bath sterile by adding about a pound of a special chlorine compound daily. A test recently devised in England i enabled the chlorine content of the i, water to be determined accurately on - the spot in a few minutes, and this was e being used in Auckland. Bacteriological u tests were also made from time to time. 1 It was quite certain tbat with the re- - quisite amount of chlorine in the wqter i the germs causing ear infections were ] quickly killed. “I cannot say that conditions in all - the Auckland baths are ideal,” Dr. j Hughes added, ‘‘but they are all under a supervision and improvements are conn tinually being made. I do not believe d that more care is taken anywhere else in New Zealand.”