SCARLET FEVER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 250, 3 August 1937, Page 4

SCARLET FEVER.

OUTBREAK AT HOSPITAL. CASES IN CHILDREN’S W 7 ARD. The children’s ward at the Ashburton Public Hospital is at present in quarantine because of a minor outbreak of scarlet fever there. No new cases are being admitted to this ward and there will be no cases for discharge till the period of quarantine (seven or eight days from the reporting of the last case) is ended, unless, of course, there are further cases. Speaking to a “Guardian” reporter this morning, the Medical Superintendent (Dr. A. J. Mason) stated that toward the end of last week two children and one nurse in the children’s ward contracted scarlet fever, the origin of which was unknown. The ward had been put in quarantine, no new cases being admitted and none discharged pending the lifting of the quarantine, which depended again on the incidence of any further cases. None of the cases reported was of a. severe type, Dr. Mason said, and while it was hoped that there would not be any further cases, it was yet too early to say that there would not be any more.

Rumours regarding the outbreak have been going about Ashburton, and as usual in such cases, the story was that the outbreak was much more serious than is borne out by the facts.