A warm welcome to the Millhouse Community and to other readers. In the August 2019 newsletter I expressed concern about the measles epidemic, which has reached a new high with 1348 notified occurrences, as at 20 September, of the disease this year. South Auckland has the highest number of cases in New Zealand, predominantly affecting Pacifica and Maori, but East Auckland has not been exempt from the disease. The Ministry of Health's priority is to have all children vaccinated on schedule, especially those under four, but also young people between 15-29 years, who have been most affected during the measles outbreak.
Please don't send your children to school or pre-school when they are unwell, as they may communicate disease to others, and are more susceptible to infection. Keep them at home until they recover. Make sure they have quality sleep and eat wholesome food. Consider supplementing with zinc, vitamin A, D & C to improve resistance, and avoid high sugar food anddrinks which lower immune response and increase vulnerability to illness.

MILLHOUSE NEWS - please vaccinate to avoid serious illness

Last Saturday I attended the East Health PHO symposium for primary healthcare at the Waipuna Conference Centre. I listened intently as midwife Linda Williams told how Alijah, their youngest unvaccinated son, was taken to Starship Hospital in 2012 suffering convulsive spasms every few minutes, arching his back, and biting his bleeding tongue with face muscles contracted and his jaw tightly closed. He was suffering from lockjaw, which we know as tetanus, caused by the bacteria clostridium tetani. He was admitted to intensive care, placed on life support and over many months finally recovered. In the last two decades there have been more than 30 cases of tetanus in New Zealand. Two elderly people died. Tetanus is a condition prevented by vaccination.

A photo from the Bolton Street Cemetery in Wellington shows that during Christmas 1876, five infant children of the Duff family died within in a few days of each other from diphtheria. Diphtheria is a vaccine-prevented acute disease, along with tetanus, polio, measles, rubella, mumps, whooping cough and hepatitis B. With increasing overcrowding, poor nutrition, air travel contagion and reduced vaccination, we are now experiencing the return of serious acute infectious illnesses, which can be fatal, and have a huge cost to the health system. Please talk to the medical team, who are willing to dialogue with you about the importance of preventative vaccination for children who are not immunised.



In this issue...

• Measles risk still growing - please vaccinate
• New online booking system experiencing some glitches - please advise Reception
• Online self-access to blood results
• Make sure you register for the new "Patient Portal" 

and this month Dr Ric writes the second of two articles about

the importance of sleep