SEASONAL DISEASE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 352, 12 May 1928, Page 11

SEASONAL DISEASE

PNEUMONIA INCREASES NO CAUSE FOR ALARM Cases of infectious disease notified to the Health Department in April numbered 228, compared with 183 in March, an increase of 45. The increase was attributable chiefly to diphtheria and pneumonia. In the case of each the number was double that of the figure for the previous month. With the coming of winter an increase in the prevalence of pneumonia is always The department is not taking a serious view of the increase in diphtheria as cases of this disease show marked fluctuations from time to time without assuming the proportion of an epidemic. Scarlet fever notifications fluctuate similarly. In March there were 54 notifications, but in April there were eight fewer cases.

Practically half the total cases of in feetipus diseases in April occurred in the central district, thus maintaining the approximate proportion of March. The distribution according to districts was as follows, the corresponding totals for March being given in parentheses:—North Auckland, 35 (14): Central Auckland, 106 (93); South Auckland. 62 (45); Coromandel-Opo-tiki, 25 (31).

The total number of infectious diseases notified in the four months of the year ended April 30 is 668. Following are the details of the cases for April, with the figures for the previous month in parentheses:—Scarlet fever, 46 (54): diphtheria, 66 (31): erjteric fever, 22 (16): tuberculosis, 33 (32); influenza. 7 (5); pneumonia, S 3 (17): erysipelas, 5 (11): purepera) lever, 9 (10); eclampsia, 1 (2): dysentery, 1 (l); cerebro-spinal meningitis, 1 (1)* t- rac k° llia - I (0): poliomyelitis,