Safeguarding the Public Health.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16432, 28 January 1919, Page 6

Safeguarding the Public Health.

We think it only right to warn the Government, and especially the Minister of Public Health, that there is considerable uneasiness in the public mind regarding the possibility of a reintroduction into New Zealand of the opidomic, which, for want of a better name, we must term virulent influenza. The statements made regarding the troopship Malta, which arrived at "Wellington yesterday with troops from Egypt, is not at all reassuring. Qn the trip across the Indian Ocean, we are told, some of the 268 Rarotongans on board showed "slight pneumonic symp"toms," and 16 were landed at Fremantle. Eight more cases were discovered on the voyage from Premantle to Wellington, six of these being Rarotongans, and the other two New Zealand soldiers, one being an officer. The description of the complaint is so vague that it is impossible to do more than, make a guess at its nature, but the way in which the qases have cropped up eoems to show that it is of an infectious character, as does the further statement that the six patients referred to and "contacts" havo been landed on Somes Island. It was at first officially announced that all the other troops, after being inoculated and passed through the inhalation chamber, were to be allowed to land this morning, but the authorities apparently are not quite satisfied -that this course is advisable, for the latest advice states that there is to be a consultation at 10.30 this morning to decide whether the demobilisation of the men is to be proceeded with. Supposing the disease to be pneumonic or septic influenzal we cannot say that the precautions at first decided upon seem to us to be adequate. We admit that it is hard to order soldiers into quarantine immediately on their arrival home from the front. It is also possible that at present there is not sufficient accommodation to quarantine all the men even in one large troopship. All we can say is that if virulent influenza is again allowed to get n footing in New Zealand through the neglect of tho responsible authorities, public indignation will show itself in a very unmistakable manner. There is always danger of infectious disease breaking out in a troopship, especially when the men on board are returning from a tropical climate, and if there is not sufficient accommodation at the

various quarantine stations to cop© with such an emergency, it ought at one© to be provided. If the Malta's men aro allowed to land they ought at least to be kept under close surveillance by tho Health authorities for some days, so that fhould other cases occur they may bo promptly isolated and dealt with. It would bo far better, however, in such a case, if the men were placed in quarantine for the short period that would: be necessary.