CHILD PARALYSIS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22722, 7 May 1937, Page 13

CHILD PARALYSIS

AUCKLAND CASES THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS PRECAUTIONS WITH PUPILS Although there are pupils attending hoarding schools in Auckland who may be spending the May holidays at their homes in districts from which cases of paralysis have been reported, it is understood that that fact will not affect the closing of those schools next week. Inquiries made at several hoarding schools in Auckland yesterday show that none of the schools will remain open on account of the paralysis epidemic in the Waikato and other districts. The headmaster of King's College, Mr. J. N. Peart, stated that it "was not expected that the school would be kept open. Parents had been advised that if they did not desire their children to go home they could remain at the college. On the other hand those parents who were permitting their children to go home to areas affected by the epidemic would be asked to take reasonable precautions. Some pupils, it was understood, would be taken home by private cars.

Other headmasters stated that there had been no word of any objection from prfrents to their children returning home and the schools would close according to plan next week.

The headmistress of the Diocesan High School for Girls, Miss E. R. Edwards, said that the closing date for the term, Tuesday, May 11, had not been altered. However, parents had been advised by circular that pupils visiting areas in which restrictions were in force on account of infantile paralysis would not be allowed to return to school from those areas until the restrictions were lifted. Parents had been requested not to allow pupils to attend picture shows or other crowded places.

At the foot of the circular is a declaration to be filled in by parents or guardians. They arc asked to declare that to the best of their knowledge pupils have not been in contact with cases of infantile paralysis during the holidays and are not returning from an area where restrictions are in force. The declaration is to be signed and handed in before entering the school doors. Pupils returning without the signed slip will not be admitted.

Two more suspected cases of infantile paralysis were reported to the Health Department in Auckland yesterday. A 13-year-old boy from Kanohi, north of Helensville, has been admitted to the Auckland Hospital, and his case is expected to prove positive. A very doubtful case has been admitted to the Coromandel Hospital. An adult, suspected of having been a carrier of the disease, is under treatment at the Auckland Hospital. THREE WAIKATO SUSPECTS ADULT CASE NOT POSITIVE [FROM OUR OWX CORRESPONDENT] HAMILTON, Thursday Three more suspects were admitted to the Waikato Hospital to-day, a man aged 35 from Matamata. a Ma'ori boy aged three from Morrinsville, and a boy aged 10 from Raglan. The man's condition was subsequently diagnosed as negative, and the other two as positive. BERI BERI AND PARALYSIS DISEASES NOT RELATED The suggestions made recently that the infantile beriberi of the Far East has a distinct resemblance to the infantile paralysis at present being experienced in New Zealand are not supported by medical men in Auckland. An officer of the Health Department stated that beriberi was a deficiency disease caused by the eating as a staple diet of rice and other cereals that had been too thoroughly cleansed, removing the vitamin values. It was unlike infantile paralysis, which could be conveyed from one person to another, and the two diseases had nothing in common. Infantile paralysis would attack people no matter what they ate.