"DEVIL'S GRIP" SPREADS IN HAWKE'S BAY
XAPIKR. IVk 4. lndieations aro tliat Ihe iiK-idence of .Bornliolui's disease, olhenvise known as cj'idoiiiic myalgia, or Devil's (irip, increasirig tkrougliout llawke 's Buy. The disease is not included in the Health Department scliertule oi' diseases requiring iiotification, and thorelore 110 acourate record is obtaina.ble, but/ it would scem tbat tliere are at least 5U0 cuses in Ilawke's Bay at present. Inquiry today froni modiccil authoiities revealed tliat Bornliolm 's disease lias been comparatively imkiiovvn in Ihe district, and there lias been uotliing to indicate hovv th" cpidemic developcd. Manv people who liave been stricken witli the disease, which is aecouipanied bv cousiderabie pain of an alanuing ua ture, liave sought admissiou to hospital. Lord Horder, in Price 's textbook ot the Praetiee of Medicine, gives an ac-urate account of the disease .syniptonis and eifects. He desciibes disease as an acute infectious cpidemic disease of short duration, charaeterised by a sudden onset of pain in the upper abdomeu and lower cliest regions. It
: is acconipaiiied by fever, sweating and ' a teudeucy to relapse. The disease is I most iikeiy to occur in the late summer or autumn months, and the cause is uuknown. Infection appears to be spread | by (lirect coiitact only. The patient l remaiiis infective so long as the paiu persists. ! Lord Horder adds tliat the onset is 1 sudden, with acute spasmodic pain in the vicinity of the diaphragm, perhops i more on oue side than on the other. i The pain leads to shallow aud rapid rospiration, and is iiitensilied by deep j breathing, yawning, snee/ing or coughl iug, and, during a period of quiescence, inay be induccd by iaughinu. In adults, the pain may also be experienced in . tlie neck, with frontal headaclies. The i temperature rises rapidly and there is j a distuict teudeucy to return to fever, I with cousiderabie sweating. Narmally the disease lasts tliree or four days.
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Chronicle (Levin), 6 February 1947, Page 3
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322"DEVIL'S GRIP" SPREADS IN HAWKE'S BAY Chronicle (Levin), 6 February 1947, Page 3
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