TYPHOID FEVER

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 211, 6 August 1937, Page 9

TYPHOID FEVER

FOUR DEATHS OCCUR. GREAT BARRIER ISLAND. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Aug. 5. A prompt investigation by officers of the Health Department at last weekend of a reported outbreak of sickness on Great Barrier Island led to the discovery of an epidemic of typhoid fever there which had caused four deaths and had affected in varying degrees ■some 30 people. The place most seriously affected is n Maori settlement in Catherine Bay, to the north of Port Fitzroy. Having obtained the authority ol the Minister of Defence, Dr C. B. Gilbert! and Mr W. Armour, of the Health Department, flew across last Saturday in a defence seaplane to investigate the position. They found sickness prevalent, both among Maoris and the few whites. In four Maori settlements on Catherine Bay three Maoris and a child bad died. Dr Gilbcrd and Mi Armour remained until Monday morning, and during that time they inoculated everybody in the four settlements concerned, to the number of 87. The villages were thoroughly cleaned up, and, in view of all the precautions titffen, the Health Department anticipates a rapid subsidence of the trouble. Dr Gilbert! and Mr Armour returned to Auckland by seaplane, and various tests made hnve completely confirmed the diagnosis of typhoid. They propose. if weather permits, to return to Catherine Bay this coining week-end to give a second inoculation in all the settlements affected.