INFECTIOUS DISEASES Healthy childhood has its haz ards.

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 37, 13 May 1965, Page 3 (Supplement)

INFECTIOUS DISEASES Healthy childhood has its haz ards.

Every year thousands of; children get measles, mumps, scarl- % et fever. or whooplrig cough. Most of them are a lot better nursed at home rather than in hospital. But if you are to nurse them at home you need to know some of the facts about each of the * main infections of chidlren^ You can get all this information from your Doctor. But it is - useful to know without having to call on him all the time- So we have decided to run in our little paper a series of the more common complaints that children are likely to get.We hope you will find this helpful. But do not hesitate if you are in doubt at any time to call your doctor and he * will soon know. By and large the sooner your children get some of these fevers ^ and get them over and done with the better # Obviously, infants and weakly -children should never be exposed needlessly to infection. The age of about three years is a good dividing line. Try to avoid any kind of infection under that age, but after that don't upset yourself too much when exposure to infection occurs. Meeting and * beating infections is all part of growing up. Among many of the things that * babies inherit from their parents is an ability to develop some re^sistance to infections and to the stresses and strains that will face them throughout lifeA new-born baby also gets from *its mother a share of the power to cope with infection3 that she *has acquired during her lifeThis is due to the passage into the baby's blood of a small amount of her antibodies or anti- ^ infection substances. These protect her baby for a few months after birth-