SLEEPY SICKNESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21879, 15 August 1934, Page 10

SLEEPY SICKNESS

FATAL WAIKATO CASE YOUNG NURSE AT HOSPITAL [by TELEGRAPH —OWN cobbespondekt] HAMILTON, Tuesday A fatal case of encephalitis lethargica (sleepy sickness) occurred at the Waikato Hospital yesterday, when a nurse employed Jn_ the hospital, Mis* Margaret Mary Meeking, aged 23, daughter of Mr. and Sirs. L. Meeking, of Horahora, died of the diseise. Miss Meeking, who had been on the hospital staff since April, 1931, became ill a fortnight ago, and in tipite of every care by the medical and nursing staff the drowsiness with which she was affected became deeper Sind she died. No other cases of the disease have been reported in the Waikato in recent months. An outbreak of lethargica, generally referred to in Naw Zealand as sleepy sickness, occurred in North Auckland last August, and several deaths resulted. The actual cause of the disease is unknown, although it is generally attributed to some germ. It is sometimes also referred to by medical men in England and in other parts of the world as "sleeping sickness," although it is entirely distinct from the sleeping sickness,, or trypanosomiasis, which is a serious disease in tropical Africa, and is caused by the bite of the tsetse fly.