NEW FORM OF DIPHTHERIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3768, 1 June 1926, Page 31

NEW FORM OF DIPHTHERIA.

USUAL SYMPTOMS ABSENT. CARE BY PARENTS URGED. GISBORNE, May 26. Some unusual features in connection with the death of a 21 months’ old infant from diphtheria were revealed at an inquest today. It was stated in evidence that the child apparently had a cold and was being treated for this by the parents. She gave no indication of suffering pain or having a sore throat, and apparently had no difficulty in swallowing food up to within 12 hours of death, and there were no white marks to be seen in the child’s throat, as is usually the case in diphtheric infection. The Coroner, Mr G. C. Lovvy, S.M., inquired of Dr Bowie whether the parents would know if the child was diphtheretically infected when there was no evidence of this in the child’s throat, and in view of the fact that another child in the family was suffering from a cold. Dr Bowie explained that he could quite understand the parents being deceived that the child had onlv a cold, as it was a peculiar type of diphtheria which was now prevailing, and in such cases the acute symptoms appeared only a few hours before death. He knew one case where a child had been treated for four days for whooping cough, and the diphtheretic symptoms appeared only four or five hours before death would have ensued, and the child had to be operated on to remove the blockage of the throat. In such cases, he said, medical advice should be summoned immediately. The coroner returned a verdict that the cause of death was heart failure due to diphtheria infection. He said he would like the press to note the fact of the peculiar type of diphtheria now prevailing, and no doubt the Health Department will stress „the importance of parents summoning medical advice immediately. When interviewed by a Gisborne Times representative, Dr Bowie stated that the first symptoms of the peculiar type of diphtheria he refrred to were similar to those of a cold accompanied by a slight feverishness, and lack of vitality.

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