MEASLES SPREAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 215, 10 September 1940, Page 3

MEASLES SPREAD.

IN WAIKATO CAMPS. SOME CIVILIANS AFFECTED. HAMILTON, this day. There is every indication that the present mild measles epidemic is spreading in the Waikato, as all camps in the area now have some cases, while the civilian population is also affected In some parts of the district. Yesterday seven soldiers were admitted to the emergency hospital at the newWest Hamilton school, two being from Hopu Hopu, one from Claudelands, where the 7th Medium Battery is in camp, and the other four from the. special isolation camp at Te Rapa. Thirty-nine soldiers are now in hospital. Dr. C. B. Gilberd, medical officer of health at Hamilton, said to-day that the extent of the epidemic among the civilian population could not be gauged as measles was not a notifiable disease, but it was known that a number of cases had developed. Whether the troops now in the special camp at Te Rapa. had passed the measles on to those in Hopu Hopu during their short stay there on their arrival from Trentham is not yet known, as the incubation period is 14 days. In the opinion of Dr. H. L. Gould, medical superintendent of the Waikato hospital, it will be ovej- a fortnight before the actual extent of the epidemic would be known, but at present it is assuming sufficiently large proportions to be a nuisance to the military authorities. No decision regarding the isolation of the Hopu Hopu and Claudelands camps has yet been made.