SECRET DISEASES

Otago Witness, Issue 3247, 7 June 1916, Page 3

SECRET DISEASES

THE OFFICIAL VIEW. Colonel Hope Lewis, consulting surgeorj io the Defence Forces, who examined mostof tho men who return from oversea, expresses the opinion that the prevalence of venereal diseases amongst our men roturned from active service was very much exaggerated. It is true that some cases ot this disease are found amongst the men returning. There were, he says, four cases of tho disease on the Willochra, which is about the usual proportion amongst those returning—barely 2 per cent., which, he adds, is not a greater proportion than that to be found amongst the civilian population in young men about the ages of our returning troops. When cases are detected, Colonel Hope Lewis stat-s, they are immediately put in strict isolation, and not allowed to leave quarantine until the medical authorities are confident that they are likely to bo no longer a danger to the public- With regard to those cases of the disease which might possibly escape the notice of the examining board. Colonel Lewis Ftatcs that during their voyage to New Zealand they are under the strict examination of the medical officers on board the troopship, -whose duty it manifestly « to take every precaution in the direction of ensuring the safety of the public on their return to the dominion. Dr Yalintine (chief health officer) has requested us to state that he had not had an opportunity of interviewing the doctor who was the authority for some oF the statements published- in the Otago Daily Timea, and that if he could only obtain more information on the subject of a case of syphilis in a coo!-; in an hotel it would be possible to safeguard the public by the removal of the man from his occupation. Dr Valintine informs us that the Minister of Public Health is emphatic in his determination of introducing legislation during tho present session very much on the lines suggested by the report of the recent Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases. It was thought generally that no good would be obtained bv puffing into operuf-ion anything in the nature of a Contagious Diseases Act, but that other mean- would most assuredly be undertaken