INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2837, 24 January 1925, Page 3

INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

NO LOCAL CASES. No local cases of infantile paralysis so far have been reported. The are places where the patients in the Pamerston N. hospital came from: — Palmerston North 4 Levin 2 Otaki 1 Feilding 1 Rongotea 1 The only patient from Shannon (an adult) died. Of the above cases in hospital, one, a little girl, aged 9 years, of Palmerston N. is serious. No cases were reported in this hospital district yesterday'. All schools are to remain closed until February 14th, and, if any further closure is necessary', due notice will be given before that date. Two cases of infantile paralysis were notified to-day', one being in the suburbs and the other in the country, says an Auckland message. The first case of infantile paralysis at Tauranga was reported y esterday. The patient is a little girl of 21 years, living at Mount Maunganui. A well-known resident of Wellington, who is a keen observer and one who takes a live interest in children’s welfare, informed a N.Z. Times representative yesterday that he was of opinion that the children of the present day did not obtain sufficient sleep and that he was convinced that this fact was a contributory cause to contracting the disease. He stated that many parents allowed their children to remain up too late at night. The natural tendency' of children was to wake up early' in the morning, and if they remain out of bed too late in the evening the course of nature is seriously interfered with. As a consequence the nervous system of growing children is debilitated, and I heir delicate mechanism rendered susceptible to disease. Children, said the informant, require plenty of sleep in order to remain healthy’, and it. is their parents’ duly lo see that they get it. Xo doubt, he added, that Ihe bright. artificial light that is now in every home causes children to remain out of bed longer than is good for them. When kerosene lamps and candles were in common use, a. child seldom lied a desire lo remain up at night, but tlit l bright light of to-day has l lie opposite effect:.