INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 47, 19 November 1919, Page 6

INFECTIOUS DISEASES

FIGURES FOR WELLINGTON

DISTEICT

POSITION REGARDING INFLUENZA

PRECAUTIONS STILL

NECESSARY

"WHOLE POSITION WELL IN HAND"

Although the number of cases of infectious disease in the. Wellington public health district for the week ending November 17 showed an increase 01 .'IS over Iho previous week, the Health Department ofticiM'.s lake an optimistic new of the situation, 'which they consider to be finite satisfactory in every way. The lolal number of infectious caws reported for the week was 10(1, of which S3 were dinlitherin, HI influenza, and 26 nnviimoniiL In Welliiißton city 17 cases ni influenza were reptirtcd, two l>eing Diieunomic, four severe, one moderate, aim 10 mild. The previous week only uvo mild cases came under the notice of the Department.

The bulletin covering the. various hosnital districts for the week ending November 17 is us follows:—Cook, enteric 3; AVairoa. influonza 1, pneunomia ;i; Hawke's Bay, diphtlieria .'), tiil;ei'ciilo.si9 1: Wai pawn, diphtheria, 2; Taranaki, fwnrlet fever l,.in{lnenxii 3. i)neunoniia-2; Stratford, diphtheria 7; Hawera, diphIhoria 2. enteric 1, influenza 2, mensles :!, pneunomia 3; Patca, pneunomia i\ AVangnnui, diphtheria 2, tuberculcsis 1, influenza 2. meases 1; Palmewton North, dinhtheria 1, influenza 2, measles 1, pneumonia, i; AVellinglon. Bcarlet fever 2. diphtheria 11, influenza 21, septicaemia I.'measles 1, pneumonia 9, lethargic enccnhalitis 1; AA'airarapa, tuberculosis 1 J A'olson, diphlheria •(, pneumonia 1. Totals—Scarlet fever, 3; diphtheria 3'2; enteric fever ■!, tulwrculosis 3, septicaemia 1. influenza 31, measles 5, pneuTuonia 2G. lethargic encephalitis 1; grano! total. 106. The ca=e of lethargic encelilmlitis was reported from lievin.

Of tlie l>6 cases of infectious disease notified from various parts of the Wellington public health district (luriiiK the previous week, scarlet fever accounted' for 11, diphtheria 3l). enturi: fever 1, influenza 13, measles 1, and pneunomia 4.

Details regarding tho influenza notifications for last week are as follow;—Wairoa, 1 mild; New"Plymouth, 3 mild; Tβ Kiri. 1 mild; Ultham, 1 mild; Marion, 1 mild: l'aluierston North. 2 niilo; Wellinirton city, i pneumonic, 4 severe, 1 moderate. 10 mild; Lower Hutt, 2 mild; .Tohusonville. 1 mild; Ohau, 1 pneumonic; total. 31. Compared with the previous week, tho actual increase in the number of influenza cases t for the whole of the Wcilinsrton public health district, tho population of which is over 400,(100, is 18, and the additional rases of pneumonia number 22. Nino rases of pneumonia, occurred in Wellington city during the wenk.

Discussing the position with a Dojiinio.v reporter yesterday. Dr. If. H. Watt, the Diftrict Health Officer, pointed to Ihn fact that out of the 31 cases of iunotified ouring the week only three were pneumonic. This, he stated, was nothing remarkable in a health district the size of, Wellington. "The vast majority of the cases are mild," remarked Dr. AViitt.

Asked if cases of fftetric infiuenp were prevalent in the district, Dr. Watt replied that only very few had been rci:oried. "If is not the type of disease that was so disastrous last' November," he said. "The Rastric form is one of the recognised typos of influenza, but it is not a severe manifestation of the oiBcase. Suriiiß the big epidemic of last vear there vas comparatively little gastric infiiieiiM. It has been known in past enidemics, but there is nothing essentially dangerous about it. The danccro'us typo as we know it was tho pneumonic type of last year. I still adviw that the utmost precautions be taken, though. To prevent any spread of the disease it is absolutely essential (hat tho advice regarding precautions that ha-s been Riven from time to time should I>e followed. Influenza is a nolifiaV.e disease, and the obligation is oil the metrical attendant, on on thr householder in (he absence of a medical attendant, to report all case?." Dr. Wait added that there were no signs of a widespread epidemic of influenza, and on the evidence "before it the Department did not'anticinate n recrudescence of the outbrejik of last year. Regarding the increase of 22 in the number of pneumonia notifications compared with the previous wcpk, Dr. Watt observed that no special comment v.-os willed for as the total for the week endirnr November 10 d) was much Mow the normal fifeurp.. As a matter of fact, no trno deductions could b3 drawn from woeklv comparisons -of public health statistics, for the figures oscillated to such an extent. "We have the whole position well in hand," concluded the doctor.