Back of Epidemic Broken

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 6

Back of Epidemic Broken

GOOD POSITION IN DUNEDIN. Per Press Association. DUNEDIN, Last Night. An indication that the back of the infantile paralysis epidemic in Dunedin has apparently been broken is provided by the fact that since Saturday last only one case has been admitted to the Dunedin Hospital, the victim being a young man from Central Otago. To-day was again free from notifications in Dunedin, although one positive case, a 19-year-old youth was admitted to .the Oamaru Hospital during the day. Not Very Severe in Auckland Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Last Night. “So far as one can foretell from the general course the epidemic ihas takeu it does not appear that it will prove very severe. The infection has not assumed any signs of being widespread or of being very serious, 0 stated Dr. R. H. Makgill, of the Aucklan i office of the of Health, in discussing the precautions that have been exercised to check the spread of infantile paralysis. Of eight suspected cases admitted to the Auckland hospital the last, a young man from the country who went in on January 18, was still not definitely shown to have contracted infection. All the other cases were of a mild nature and the patients were making good progress towards recovery. Milk as Agent ABSENCE OF PROOF. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Jan. 22. Milk is very unlikely to bo a source of infection by infantile paralysis. Although one case of infantile paralysis has occurred on a arm in the Mangere district, it was the opinion of the Health Department at Auckland that the present conditions should cause no concern and did not warrant action by the Milk Council. These facts were mentioned in a report presented by the council’s technical adviser at to-day’s meeting. The report states that there is little evidence to suggest that milk is an agent in tho spread of the disease. The report quotes outbreaks in America in 1925 and England in 1926, where cases were suggestive of milk carrying the infection, but there was no definite proof. As a precaution at Mangere milk was ordered either to be pasteurised or used for manufacturing purposes, where pasteurisation and subsequent treatment would kill any virus likely to be present.