Report of the Department of Health / New Zealand.

  • New Zealand. Department of Health.
Date:
[1959]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the Department of Health / New Zealand. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/144 (page 20)
    Infective Hepatitis During the year 1,893 cases, an increase of 450 cases over 1957, were reported. There were 22 deaths. This disease continues to gain ground and is becoming one of our most serious public health problems. During the year one quite extensive outbreak was traced to the infection of a water supply, and surveys carried out in several districts indicate that the disease is spread by poor personal hygiene, especially among school children. Infected water supplies and poor personal hygiene - especially in school children - probably accounted for most cases. Control as with the case of poliomyelitis is impracticable on account of the large numbers of unrecognised cases and because the disease is transmitted more readily in the early stages before the onset of jaundice clarifies the diagnosis and also because of the number of cases that remain as carriers for years afterwards. The disease is a most sensitive index of personal hygiene and community sanitation and the present position in regard to this disease calls for an all out effort to improve hygiene in schools and for attention to public water supplies and the proper disposal of sewage. Enteric Fevers Forty-four cases were notified during the year, one less than 1957. The majority of cases occurred in the Auckland province. In September the m.v. Sibajak, carrying mostly Dutch immigrants, arrived in Wellington with seven undiagnosed cases of febrile illness aboard and a history of a number of other passengers being similarly affected during the voyage. These seven cases were admitted by the port health officer to hospital and were found a few days later to be suffering - three from typhoid and four from paratyphoid B. By this time the several hundred passengers from the ship had been disembarked to all parts of New Zealand. Medical Officers of Health were notified and all passengers were examined. Another 11 cases convalescent from paratyphoid B were discovered and these were isolated in hospitals until clear of infection. No secondary cases as far as we know have occurred as a result of this incident and it has clearly demonstrated the value of a careful watch of entrants into this country by port health officers. The port health officer and the medical officer of health who handled the follow-up work so expeditiously are to be congratulated on a nice piece of work. If all these cases had not been isolated it is almost certain that we would have had some secondary cases and perhaps the establishment of a germ which, up to now, we have been fortunate in having very little experience with. It has been reported but rarely. Bacillary Dysentery A total of 438 cases were reported as against 165 the previous year. The increased incidence was accounted for by outbreaks which occurred in the Wellington, Rotorua, and Gisborne districts. This disease is one of the most infectious diseases we have to deal with and like infective hepatitis is an index of the sanitation of the country. The number of cases that occurred last year cannot be regarded with complacency and certainly calls for a stocktaking of the general sanitation of the country.