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12
During January two cases occurred one of which was paralytic.
The main outbreak commenced during the early days of June when
the Anti-Polio Vaccination campaign had just begun. Much publicity
was given to the first notified case since the child had been
vaccinated against the disease only five days previously. However
it was obvious that this chi1d was already incubating poliomyelitis
before the injection was given. Fourteen cases followed during
the rest of June and a further eight were notified during July.
The last case occurred on the 24th July, 1956. The interesting
aspect of this outbreak was the multiple cases occurring in the
same family. Poliomyelitis usually picks no more than one from a
family. In this attack five separate families had more than one
case, two of these families had three cases each, A Medical Officer
of the Ministry of Health visited the district and discussed these
cases with members of the local health department.
Finally the remaining three cases occurred at the beginning
of winter, two cases in November and the last on 9th December, 1956,
Recent work on the nature of poliomyelitis suggests that the
causative virus inhabits the alimentary canal for long periods
after an attack, one source suggests as long as 8 to 10 weeks. It
can be clearly seen that personal hygiene is of the greatest
importance to all age groups.
Measles
There were 158 notifications of measles during the year. Six
cases were removed to hospital with complications. There were no
deaths.
Dysentery
There was a total of 63 cases notified, Of these 10 cases
were admitted to hospital.
Food Poisoning
There were 30 notified cases. In only 9 of these were the
agents identified (8 Salmonella typhi-murium; 1 Salmonella
enteriditis). 2 cases were admitted to hospital, both confirmed
Salmonella typhi murium infections. Included in the 30 notified
cases were two small outbreaks: 3 people in one family; and the
illness of 3 individual children classed as an outbreak, the common