EARLIER INCIDENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26634, 3 December 1947, Page 6

EARLIER INCIDENCE

MAJOR EPIDEMIC RECALLED COMMENCEMENT IN DUNEDIN Between December, 1936, and June, 1937, occurred the last serious outbreak of infantile paralysis in New Zealand when a total of 819 cases was reported. Minor outbreaks occurred in 1943 and 1946. The 1936-37 epidemic began in December in Dunedin and declined in the next two months, when most of the cases were in the northern part of the South Island. In March, 1937, cases began to appear much more frequently in the North Island and in April the epidemic was withspread throughout the Dominion. The peak was reached in April, when 246 cases were reported and from then on the epidemic began to decline. Of the total of 819 cases in the seven months, 427 were in the North Island and 392 in the South. The death rate in the epidemic was 4.8 per cent, of all cases reported, and the total number of deaths was 39. The number of deaths, and the death rate itself were markedly below the totals for two previous bad epidemics in 1916 and 1925.

In earlier outbreaks the disease seemed to be one which heavily affected children in the earlier years of life, but the tendency since 1925, both in New Zealand and overseas seems for the older age groups to be more affected. For instance, in 1925 55.3 per cent, of the sufferers were under five years old and the in 1936-37 epidemic the percentage below five years of age had dropped to 27.8. There was a relatively mild outbreak in parts of the South Island in 1946, but the majority of cases did not suffer paralysis.