CANCER INCREASING

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2958, 22 December 1916, Page 9

CANCER INCREASING

INFECTIOUS DISEASES DECREASING. For the month ended December 12 the' amount of infectious disease in the Wellington Hospital. District has decreased in comparison with the amount experienced in the corresponding period j.oi 1915, but there has been an increase in diphtheria cases of from 10 to 41, , At yesterday's '• meeting of the Hospital Board some members rnraiied on the heavy increase in diphtheria, and inquired the reason. Mr. F. T. Moore said thai with all our health officers and all our expenditure, ' it . seemed that we were not checking disease. , ; The Inspector-General of Hospitals (Dr. T..--H. A, Valintine) happened to be present, and he made a statement on the subject. Dr. Valintine said that the exact cause of diphtheria is not known, but it is preventable. We get cycles ; of it. We have had a recrudescence. As to the exact cause, he could not say. It is not likely it is duo to the fault of any-particular'person or persons._ No doubt; insanitary conditions contribute, to it, but they found that it'sometimes occurs in the most healthy of houses. Continuing, Dr. Valintine said: "Mr. Moore has. said that despite our health inspectors • and expenditure, we have had an increase in infectious disease. Such is not the case. . For the' fivevearly periods 1905 to 1910 tnd 1910 to 1915, there has been a steady decrease in all disease. The most striking decline is in the infantile death-rate, which has. come 1 down to almost half, and that shows that tlie efforts of the Department have not by any -means been irt. vain. I am sorry to say that there is- one disease which is not decreasing, and that, is cancer. ' However, even that, may bo more apparent than real." . , '■'