CEREBRO SPINAL MENINGITIS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 22 April 1941, Page 7

CEREBRO SPINAL MENINGITIS

CASES IN NORTH AUCKLAND r United Press Association] Auckland, Apl., 21. Three deaths from cerebro-spinal meningitis have been reported in the Kawakawa district and there are six other cases in varying degrees. One is critically ill, two are recovering, another is well on the way to recovery and two are suspects in Kawakawa Hospital. Dr medical superintendent at the hospital, said that the use of the drug known as sulphanilamide, about which so much had been heard overseas, was proving successful in cases treated in the early stages of the disease. Two of the three victims were children, one a Maori and the other European, and the third was a man aged 28. Dr Dempster, Medical Officer of Health in Whangarei, said no further cases had been reported and adequate precautions were being taken. The families concerned had been isolated and all school contacts excluded. Practically all the cases reported had been traced to contacts with one Maori home. Dr Dempster said cerebro-spinal meningitis was regarded as a war epidemic. A good many cases were reported in Great Britain in 1940.