RESPONSIBILITY NOW LIES WITH PARENTS.

Chronicle (Levin), 3 December 1947, Page 5

RESPONSIBILITY NOW LIES WITH PARENTS.

Press Assoclazion)

(Per

WELLINGTON, Dec. 2. Now that the Health Hepartment nad closed the schools, the maui avenue of contagioii in polioniyelitis, it was the responsibiliiy of parents 10. use commonsense in preveiitiug their children frequeiiting other plaees where people congregated, said the Director-General oi Health, Dr. T. ti. Ritchie, today. ' ' The Health Dexiartment has taken measures which have been indicated to be necessarv bv its past experiences and wiil take additional precautions as and if those beeome necessary, " continued the Director-General. "Fairly serious epideiuics interspersed tvith minor ones, occur at intervals of from nuie to 12 years. U is, of course, possible that tlie present outbreak will prove a minor one iii which ease it will be unwisek-to dismiss the possibility o± a serious oue in the next year or two. "Less is known about polioniyelitis than about some orlier virus diseases. This is partlv due to the fact tliat no small animals readily available for resiarcli, such as rabbits, rats or mice, are susceptible to it. in some virus diseases it is possible to inoculate the embryo of an egg wdth a virus and study its developinent iu the cliick, but not in this ease. The only ereature beside nian known to be suoject to polioniyelitis, is the inonkev and research is being keenly prosecuted in America on these lines.

As a eonsequenee oi the absence oi reailv research material, it cannot -yet be stoppeu or prevented from spreading but by prei-autions taken tlie disease is, us it were, slowed down and an outbreak (locs not, reach the proportions it othervvise would. "Owing to tlie i'act tliat many children and adults beeome slightly infect- ' ed during mild outbreaks, a large portion of the population beeome 'salted' against any further symptoms af the disease. The fact tliat many such people with no apparent syniptoms are moving about New Zealand, repder the spread of the virus inevitable. Children are more susceptible than adults in that they have not had tlie iuoculatiug eii'ect of prior infection-. "The spread of the infection offers" puzzling features. For instance, only. one in a family may reveai infectioii. The need for a'voiding coutacts amoug children, liowever, is imperative. The department has closed the main source of contact, the schools, but otlier sources remain opou. While various of these will also be closed if the positiop shows the necessity for it, unnnecessary haste iu doing so is to be avoided."