DON'T KISS!

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 748, 22 August 1929, Page 18

DON'T KISS!

DANGER OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES GUARDING THE HEALTH “The Continental custom of kissing on the cheek is much to be preferred to our habit of kissing on the mouth. Kissing on the mouth is the most direct method of conveying disease." So said Dr. T. J. Hughes, medical officer of health, in the course of a lecture on “How To Prevent Disease,” delivered before the Auckland Institute last evening. No less thah 90 per cent, of communicable diseases were taken into the body through the mouth, said the lecturer. That was the reason why all food should be clean and thoroughly cooked, why the hands should be washed before preparing food and why the fingers and objects such as pencils should not be put into the mouth. Germs of infectious diseases had been found on the pencils and pens handed out to children in the schools and collected after the lessons. If a child sucked its fingers afterward it was liable to contract the disease. Germs could also be left on the pages of books. Auckland’s water supply, especially that located in volcanic areas, required watching, owing to rock fissures through which pollution might creep. Western Springs contained some of the worst possible fissures and Onehunga and One Tree Hill were nearly as bad and needed strict supervision. Even the employment of a chlorine plant was not such a simple matter as it might seem.