DIPHTHERIA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 840, 11 June 1910, Page 6

DIPHTHERIA.

WIDESPREAD IN NEW SOUTH WALES. Dy Teleurapto - Press Association—CoDyrlehl Sydney, June 10.. Diphtheria in a mild form is prevalent throughout tho fetate. The doctors aro unable to explain tlie widespread diffusion of tho.germ. NOT MALIGNANT. FATAL CASES 3IOSTLY V YOUNG ONES. Since the beginning of the New Year"' an epidemic of diphtheria t has been raging amongst the children living iu and around Sydney. The country districts of New South Wales, too, have supplied their quota to the long list of patients who are filling the hospitals to overflowing.- The ' outbreak is not confined to any one suburb •or district. Cases are coming in from all quarters.

' "Each winter brings along its crop of diphtheria, but the present' epidemic is tho worst that we have experienced for some years," says a Sydney paper of May 31:'. "It started unseasonably early, and will in all probability continue to rago till the warm months come round once more. Then tho probability is' that it will decrease till the - number of cases reach the normal level. Small Percentage of Deaths. "The outbreak is not of a malignant form, and consequently the number of deaths in comparison with the number of cases reported is remarkably small. Where tho disease has heen of the virulent order the patients have almost invariably been young—between tho ; ages of one and live years. The older patients, say, those- over tho age of seven years, do to suffer so severely. If a patient is not too ill to be moved he is taken out to the Coast Hospital. If, however, he is too weak or .if his condition calls for an immediate operation, he is attended at the hospital to which he was first taken. , "Tho accommodation' at tho Coast Hospital is at present taxed to tho utmost. Two extra wards, in addition to the two wards usually set apart for the reception of diphtheria patients, have been brought into use, and arc quite filled. Still the patients continue to arrivo. Thero have been fourteen fresh cases since Thursday last. The question of accommodation is now causing the authorities some little trouble. The suggestion that marquees should be erected in the grounds, an( j use( i as temporary wards, was considered, but had to be rejected on account of the weather conditions. It is a remarkable, though accredited, fact that diphtheria and scarlet fever never rago together. It is fortunate that they' don't, for the two extra wards pressed into the service at the Coast Hospital are those which are usually reserved for scarlet fever patients. Human Carriers of Disease. "Dr. "Willis, principal assistant medical ofGcer of the Health Department, said yesterday that in the older countries it has .been found that 'diphtheria,'unlike other contagious diseases, does not decrease with tho .improvement in sanitary arrangements. It may become less malignant in form, but the number of cases always remains about the same. "Persons who are themselves healthy, he said, can act as carriers, of Ihc disease. They, through spccial immunity, may not be infected themselves, but may carry the disease bacilli in their throats, hnd thus act as a' walking bed of inlection. In these days of compulsorv education, when every child is compelled to attend school, one can imagine tho havoc that one of these carrici's would work amongst his fellow schoolmates, who would be compelled to. breathe. the same air and occupy the same room as the carrier for several hours a day. "Another source of infection is "from so-called cured patients. Many cases of infection, too, can be traced in tho first instance, to dairies. One of (lie cmiployecs is a 'carrier,' and in this way infects tho. milk which is supplied to a | whole suburb. Season Only Just Started.* "Dr. C. Tftnwick, the chief resident medical ofliccr at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, said that tho hospital only admitted cases where immediate attention was required. All other cases were sent to the Coast Hospital. Still, their accommodation was nil taken up. They were attending about 10 or 50 cases a month, and had found that it was mostly young children who were attacked. "The epidemic seemed' widespread, although the poorer districts • were the most affected. A lot of- cases had heen traced to infection from milk. Of course, we consider that flic season has only iust started, he said, although we have | had a such a lot of cases already. It will probably continue till about September."