MEASLES OUTBREAK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27057, 16 April 1949, Page 6

MEASLES OUTBREAK

PREVALENCE IN DUNEDIN EPIDEMIC’S NORMAL CYCLE For many children in Dunedin, Easter will have to tje spent in bed. Measles are again present locally in epidemic proportions, and parents are resigning themselves to the inevitable. Measles come in fairly regular cycles, the intervening years giving sufficient time for a new quota of “ susceptibles ” to be built up. The present outbreak is considered by the authorities to be in epidemic form, and it is thought that it has yet to reach its peak. Strangely enough, inquiries made by the Daily Times on Thursday seemed to indicate that at some schools the worst was thought to be over.

“We had children dropping off like flies about three weeks ago,” stated one headmaster, “ but we are just about back to normal now.”

The first symptoms of measles, of course, are akin to those of influenza, and Health Department bulletins recommend that the child be put to bed in a warm, well-ventilated room at once and proper medical attention given. For the three days before the rash appears the disease is highly infectious. With care, measles need not in themselves be dangerous, but unless that care is given it is emphasised that danger lies in possible complications. Necessary quarantine precautions will mean that several children in school boarding establishments will be prevented from going to their homes for Easter. An epidemic of measles has also struck Port Chalmers, and on Thursday about 110 pupils were absent from school. The malady affects chiefly children betwfen the ages of two and eight, and seems to be free from complications.