W.E.A. BRANCH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 180, 1 July 1937, Page 4

W.E.A. BRANCH.

ADDRESS ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES. The third of a series of lectures on medical subjects was given by Dr. AV. M. Maclaurin at the meeting of the redding branch of the AV.E.A. on Tuesday. Mr A. J. Humphreys presided over a good attendance. Dr. Maclaurin, at the beginning of his remarks, gave a list ot the more common infectious diseases, which included scarlet fever, diphtheria, measles, whooping cough, chickenpox, small pox, rheumatic fever, influenza, tuberculosis and tropical ' diseases. The speaker then dealt with methods of infection, which were: (I) Transmission by contact; (2) droplet infection, which was spray from the mouth as in measles, influenza and tuberculosis; (3) ingestion of infected food and fluids as in typhoid fever, dysentery and scarlet fever. The most common methods of sterilisation for bacterial infection were : (1) By dry heat, such as flame, platinum loops or hot air chambers,, the temperature being 160 degrees; (2) the most common, by moist hea.t (boiling for five minutes could kill all nonsporing bacteria); (3) by steaming—steaming for 1J hours daily for three days would sterilise the mo6t sporeforming bacteria. The lecturer said that in a hospital the article to be sterilised was placed in an autoplay, a strong metal cylinder, built to withstand high i>reesure as steam at 301 b pressure to the square inch was U6ed. This would kill all bacteria and spores, and was chiefly used in laboratory and theatre work. A good number of chemical substances were also used for sterilisation, the commonest being carbolic, which was used as a standard for all antiseptics. The effect of a new antiseptic was compared with the effect of carbolic. The final method of sterilisation was by fil-’ tration, which was a laboratory procedure and was of no use in sterilising apart from bacteriological preparations. SCARLET FEA r ER. Of scarlet fever the speaker said that it was a cause for national disconcertion that this complaint, together with many others, altered considerably over a period of years. It had once been a serious and widespread disease, but was now not very important. Just when the medical profession got to know all about a disease and cleared up all the difficult points, it seemed to change rapidly. The organism causing sc.arlet fever was first isolated by a man named Dick in 1923, but like other discoveries it was not accepted by everyone. Dick produced a toxin and an antitoxin. The latter was injected into the skin where there was .a good rash and the rash disappeared. It gave relief in a severe case. Scarlet fever was not nearly so infectious as measles. It was carried by milk, epidemics of the disease having been traced to infected milk. It was a most difficult disrpse, as convalescent patients were carriers. If they were handling milk they coil'd easily start an epidemic and it was

also possible to carry germs without iiaving the disease.

DIPHTHERIA. The bacillus of diphtheria had been discovered by two men named Klebs and Loefller and the bacteria was very readily distinguished, the lecturer proceeded. An anti-toxin had been developed and was used widely. The diphtheria anti-toxin was an example of the difficulty of proving the use of any particular treatment clinically. 'The right way to test it was to take 100 or 1000 patients and give half the anti-toxin and watch the results. Home interesting work had been done on diphtheria in the last few years. It had been found that it was carried by convalescents and also by chronic carriers. The latter, however, could carry diphtheria bacillus without its being in a virulent form. A few years ago children were sometimes kept in isolation wards for months or even for a year because they were carriers. In most cases they were now discharged after the bacilli was proved to be non-virulent. It was possible to immunise persons, but courses of vaccines were not carried out on a large scale in New Zealand. MEASLES. Measles were the most infectious of the common infectious diseases, proceeded the speaker, and particularly so before the rash appeared. It was an interesting point that infants were immune from measles for the first two months of life, thanks to the immunity transmitted from the mother. They were relatively immune for five or six months. This immunity after having had a disease was common to all filter-passing diseases. It was an advantage to have this disease soon after the age of five. Like whooping cough, it was serious to children under five.

Continuing, the speaker said that smallpox was a disease which was noi common in New Zealand. He traced its history and 6aid there were two types, the milder of the two being that now epidemic in England. The speaker said that an epidemic of smallpox might prove serious in New Zealand at the present time as a big proportion of the population was not vaccinated.

At the conclusion of the address, Dir A. J. Humphreys thanked Dr. Maclaurin for his very interesting series of lectures and also tendered his personal thanks to the speaker. A vote of thanks to Dr. Maclaurin was carried by acclamation.