PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SMALLPOX.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1801, 14 July 1913, Page 6

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SMALLPOX.

The activity being displayed by the Department of Public Health in order to provont tho spread of the epidemic of a mild form of smallpox which has broken out in the north appears in the main to be well directed. Medical officers with liberal supplies of vaccine have been dispatched to the localities where the disease has made its appearance amongst the Natives; restrictions are being imposed which will prevent the Natives in affected districts moving about to other parts of the country and by so doinjj spreading tho diseaso; and fumigation of mails has been insisted on. Precautions have also been taken in the way of vaccination to prevent, if possible, smallpox being carried to the South Island where no cases have yet been reported. Tho weakest spot, up to the present seems to Ik? in the matter of fumigating tho mails from overocas and from tho north. Tho Australian mail has bees fumigated ap<

parently both at Sydney and in Auckland; but it is desirable that all the mails from tho north should be so treated. It is probable that further cases of smallpox will be found to exist amongst Natives in different parte of the North Island. Nowadays the Natives travel about a good deal and tho fact that the disease has appeared in a mild form would render it possible that, until public attention had been directed to its presence here, cases of smallpox might be treated, without calling in medical assistance, as some minor complaint. There is, however, no serious occasion for alarm. Vaccination is a precaution to take and the authorities are affording every convenience for those who wish to safeguard themselves and their families in this way. The supply of vaccine on hand is fairly large, but the Health Department is making provision to ensure that there will be sufficient available within the next few days to meet any increased demand which may arise as tho result of the discovery of fresh casos of disease.