MEASLES EPIDEMIC

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 July 1938, Page 9

MEASLES EPIDEMIC

UNABATED IN AUCKLAND. HIGH PROPORTION OF ADULT PATIENTS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, July 14. The widespread prevalence of measles, not only in the city and suburbs, but also throughout the province, continues unabated and some who are closely in touch with the situation doubt whether the peak has yet been reached. As soon as it dies away in one area it breaks out in another. The secretary of the education board, Mr D. W. Dunlop, says that the disease is rampant all over the province, from the far north to Whakatane. Some schools in the country have had to be closed and others are carrying on with much-depleted attendances. In many cases teaching staffs as well as children have been affected. The disease has persisted for a considerable time and so far has not shown much sign of abatement. City schools have been affected in varying degrees, some having as many as 20 per cent of their pupils away. Doctors are finding both the ordinary type of measles and German measles unusually common. Adults are forming a high proportion of patients, although children are by no means escaping. Not so many cases of complications are now reported, probably because most people are now sufficiently instructed to take wise precautions. The experience of factories and business houses with their staffs varies greatly. Some report only , a normal absence of about 2 per cent of employees, but in a few cases the percentage has been much higher. One Government department with between 30 and 40 employees, has had to carry on with 50 per cent of absentees, but another larger department housed in the same building reports only one away because of the epidemic. ,