INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1996, 2 March 1914, Page 8

INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

THE DUNEDIN OUTBREAK. Thirty cases of iiif'a-iitila paralysis have been reported in Otago, and it- is believed by medical authorities that now that the disease j.-s- listed as being eoi'npulsorily notifiable, the total will be found ,to bo not less than 50, Of the known total, 27 cases are in the city and suburbs, of the lesser number -the. majority .are hi localities adjacent to tho City Corporation's refuse' tip. Within half a mile from one of the main refuse dumps i'n tlie city, thcM wero nine cases.

The fact that a largo proportion of the of ■ infantile paralysis in the city are in tho vidijity of' garbage depots does not provis conclusively (states the "Dunedin Star")- that the disease originated from that source, Kxperts are not prepared to acknowledge any direct connection.

There is still great' scope for differences of opinion as to the ea.uses of- thfe disease. Somo doctors assert- that tlie outbreak of infantile paralysis has no connection with the city's crude disposal of garbage and rubbish. Other representatives of tlio medical ptofes* sion are positive that there is mora than mere coincidence in the faot that the worst cases of infantile paralysis are in localities adjacent to the breeding grounds of fties and rats. Tho diversity of expert opinion docs not affect the necessity for the erection of a destructor. Exposed, rotting gafliaco, and filthy rubbish cannot bo coti-ducivc to tho health of a large . community. It-has to h© admitted, however, that there are cases of infantile paralysis ill localities where the municipal authorities do not scatter rubbish, and there are several "cases in absolutely 'clean dwellings. It is stispe'eted by some medicil observers that tho numerous stables in the city and suburbs have a little ti dp , with tlio disease that is attacking children. . °