OCR Text |
Show Large Increase In Disease Cases Is Shown by Report One hundred and eighteen cases of co'mmunicaible diseases were reported to the Utah state iboard of health during the week ending September 29, which is an increase of almost 50 per cent over the preceding pre-ceding week, according to a statement state-ment released by Dr. William M. McKay, epidemiologist and acting state health commissioner for the state Iboard of health. Whooping cough and mumps were responsible for the greatest increases. Whooping cough increased in-creased from 25 cases last week to 41 during the week just ended, while mumps increased from seven cases to 24. Increases were reported re-ported for each of the communicable communi-cable diseases except typhoid fever. Infantile paralysis increased from three cases last week to 13 cases during the present week. These cases were reported from four counties: Carbon, Emery, Salt Lake and Utah. "This increase", in-crease", Dr. McKay said, "is not cause for alarm, because it is not an epidemic; and the number of cases reported this year is still within the ten-year average". Dr. ' McKay warned, however, that the physician should be call-1 ed early in all cases of childhood illness, even where a common cold is suspected. "The symptoms of practically all of the childhood' diseases," he said, "appear to the average layman like the symptoms of a common cold. Not only will early diagnosis and medical treatment treat-ment aid tremendously in the control con-trol of communicable disease", he said, "but it will often save the child from much present suffering and from defects which might appear ap-pear later in life; to say nothing of the saving in energy and expense ex-pense to the family involved." Reports were received from 28 of Utah's 29 counties. "This is a splendid record", Dr. McKay said, "and is encouraging indeed to public pub-lic health administrators, since effective ef-fective control and prevention of communicable diseases depends very largely upon prompt and complete reporting by officers. |