INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 January 1916, Page 5

INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

EPIDEMIC IN AUCKLAND By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Jan. 26. The present outbreak of infantile paralysis in Auckland has assumed the proportions of the most serious epiuemic of this disease experienced for a considerable period for recent ' notifications bring the total number of patients up to 34. Two deaths have occurred, thp victims being a four-year-old malo child and a woman aged 29, but happily the majority of the remainder of tho cases are only of a mild disposition and many of the patients are on tho high road to recovery. During the year 1014 only 50 cases were admitted to the whole hospitals of Now Zealand. During the last fortnight 10 additional cases have been reported to the Auckland Public Health office. Most of the patients on examination were- discovered to have had tho disease for periods ranging from a week to a month, and only in one or two cases had symptoms of the disease developed within the last two or three days. The cases reported included only two of adults, the remainder being children of varying ages. Tho majority of the victims are only a few months old. The outbreak is of the usual baffling nature, cases being reported -from a number of districts, thereby eliminating the possibility of contact being responsible for rvery case. Some of the patients have come from the city and others from various outlying places, including Epsom, Mount Eden', and Kingsland. One or two cases are of a serious nature, but in most of them only slight paralysis has occurred, many of the little patients being able to walk and"run about. Isolation has, of course, been resorted to by the Health authorities, and all possible precautions have been taken to ensuro the prompt reporting of cases, the disease being a compulsorily notifiable yone, and to prevent its spread.