Four More Cases Reported Jo City

Northern Advocate, 3 December 1947, Page 4

Four More Cases Reported Jo City

INFANTILE PARALYSIS...

AUCKLAND, Wed. (P.A.). —Four more positive cases- of infantile paralysis, all young children, were reported in Auckland today, bringing the total of positive cases to 21, which includes one adult. There are now six suspected cases of paralysis. Yesterday a positive case was admitted to the Waikato Hospital. The sufferer is a boy of 17 from Te Awamutu.

“Present indications are that it is unlikely that the restrictions imposed as a precautionary measure will be lifted until well into next year,” said the medical officer of health at Auckland (Dr L. S. Davis).

were, slowed down and the outbreak does not reach the proportions it otherwise would.

“In fact, it can be taken for granted they will remain at least until the end of January, probably until the end of February or later, depending entirely on the progress of the epidemic.” Asked whether owing to the swift, precautionary measures the outbreak was likely to be less severe than previous outbreaks. Dr Davis said there were hopes of slowing it down. It was hoped, as a result of the precautions, that the. virulence of the infection would not be so great as on previous occasions. BREACH OF LAW

“Owing to the fact that many children and adults become slightly infected during mild outbreaks, a large portion of the population become salted against any further symptoms of the disease,” said Dr Ritchie. “The fact that many such people, with no apparent symptoms, are moving about New Zealand render the spread of the virus inevitable.

„ He emphasised that defiance of the ban on the congregation of children was a breach of the law. It was most undesirable for children to be brought together in any way.

“Children are more susceptible than adults in that they have not had the inoculating effect of prior infection. “The spread of infection offers puzzling features. “For instance, only one in a family may reveal infection. “The need for avoiding contacts among children, however, is imperative.

The question of whether children under 10 should be prevented from travelling from the Central Auckland Health District was still being considered, but it was extremely inadvisable that children should move between the affected and unaffected areas.

“The department has closed the main source of contact, schools, but other sources remain open.

A decision to extend the prohibition of children attending picture theatres and all public gatherings, to include all those under 16, was announced yesterday by the Health Department in Auckland.

It was also announced that the question of prohibiting children under 16 from travelling from the central Auckland health district was under consideration by the department, and that a decision would be made in the next few days. SCHOOL YEAR

A decision that Friday, December 12, should be regarded as the end of the school year was received yesterday by the Auckland Education Board from the Education Department in Wellington.

The board said teachers should continue with their present duties, the compilation of returns and records for the present year and preparations for next year’s work, until that date. The anuual summer camp organised by the Northern Wing, Air Training Corps, which was to have been held at Whenuapai from January 12 to 30, has now been cancelled.

It was originally expected that between 350 and 400 cadets from secondary schools in the Auckland Province and Taranaki would attend. USE COMMON SENSE

Now that the Health Department had closed schools, the main avenue of contagion in poliomyelitis, it was the responsibility of parents to use common sense in preventing their children frequenting other places where people congregated, said the Director-General of Health (Dr T. R. Ritchie) yesterday. “The Health Department has taken the measures which have been indicated to be necessary by its past experiences and will take additional precautions as and if those become necessary,” continued the Director-Gen-eral.

. “Fairly serious epidemics interspersed with minor ones occur at intervals of from nine to 12 years. “It is, of course, possible that the present outbreak will prove a minor one, in which case, however, it wall be unwise to dismiss the possibility of a serious one in the next year or two. TESTS ON MONKEYS

“Less is knowm about poliomyelitis than about some other virus diseases.

“This is partly due to the tact that no small animals readily available for research, such as rabbits,, rats or mice, are susceptible to it.

“In some virus diseases it is possible to inoculate the embryo of an egg with virus and study its development in the chick. Not in this case, howevfcr.

“The only creature beside man known to be subject to poliomyelitis is the monkey and research is being keenly prosecuted in America on these lines.

“As a consequence of the absence of ready research material, it cannot yet be said that the disease can be stopped or prevented from spreading, but by precautions taken the disease is, as it

“While various of these will also be closed if the position shows necessity for it, unnecessary haste in doing so is to be avoided.”