FIVE MORE CASES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22603, 16 December 1936, Page 15

FIVE MORE CASES

DUNEDIN OUTBREAK TOTAL OF 22 PATIENTS EFFORTS TO PREVENT SPREAD [by telegraph—press association""! DUXEDIX, Tunsda.v I' ire morn cases of infantile paralysis were admitted to the Dunedin Hospital to-day. Three of them show definite paralysis, while tlie other two are being kept under observation. All the patients came from Dunedin and the suburbs, and there still appears to be no indication that the outbreak is spreading further afield. Today's cases bring the total to 22. Since the outbreak every precaution has been taken to prevent the disease spreading. All children's camps have been abandoned.

A tour of two teams from the Otago Boys' Cricket Association to Christchurch has been cancelled.

SUSPECTS AT NAPIER BROTHER AND SISTER PRECAUTIONS IN DISTRICT [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] HASTINGS, Tuesday Two suspected cases of infantile paralysis have reached the Napier Public Hospital. The patients are a brother and sister. One was admitted last night and the other this morning. In neither case has the diagnosis been confirmed. There is still some doubt as to whether or not the children are suffering from infantile paralysis. The position was discussed at a meeting of the Hawke's Bay Hospital Board this afternoon. Urgency was given the question by the board when Mr. C. 0. Morse asked the chairman, Mr. C. Lassen, what precautions the board intended to take. Mr. Lassen read a report from the acting medical superintendent. Dr. A. G. Clark, pointing to the possibility of the disease sooner or later occurring in this part of the country. A plan of campaign in advance was necessary, so that the board would be prepared to receive anv cases.

The question of erecting a large marquee in the hospital grounds, or securing a suitable building for isolation purposes in an emergency, is to be explored immediately. If the diagnosis in the cases under observation confirms the presence of infantile paralysis, they will be the first cases reported in the North Island.

When children in Napier assembled at the schools this morning, they were dismissed after short speeches by school principals urging them in their own interests not to congregate, but to keep iu the open air as much as possible.