CHOLERA AMONGST INFANTS.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43071, 21 March 1907, Page 1

CHOLERA AMONGST INFANTS.

British cholera, an August phenomenon in the Home Country, is at present excessively prevalent right throughout the colony 'and has made its 1 /unwelcome presence felt at the Thames', 'deferring to . the epidemic in Dunedin, Dr Ogston, District Health Officer, states that the main contributing cause is the recent intense drynessl of the weather, by which w'atter supplies have become charged with decaying organic matter, and hence rendered impure. Further, the principal thoroughfares are not scavenged! a® they might ibe, and, with badly-laid channels, filthy matter finds a resting place, and, heavily charged with bacteria, is blown into ones mouth' and: lungs. In that also lies a contributing cause. Sudden and extreme Changes of temperature, such as have been experienced of late, are known from long observation by medical authorities to bring about 1 intestinal disorders, more especially in very old and very young people, while it is' a well-established fact that a sudden rise of mean temperature above ( the average has the same effect. In this connection the prevalence' of British cholera among infants "is almost shocking. The heaviest period of infant mortality at Home is generally about August,' when such climatic conditions prevail. The.effect that a. season like the one: just experienced 'has on milk supplies is also- to a large extent resopnsible for what is known rs infantile diarrhoea.