View report page

88
Gladys W., whose parents occupied the upper part of the house,
were notified as suffering from typhoid, James B., the patient
first attacked, being still in hospital. Careful enquiries were
again made, and the drains again tested, when a slight defect
was discovered in joint of outside w.c. On the 22nd April
Edith W., mother of Gladys W., was notified and removed
to hospital. The drains were again tested with the smoke and
chemical tests, with negative results, and finally the water test
was applied. With the latter test they were found to be very
defective. Fifteen feet away from the front of the house there
is a dead end to the sewer which drains the houses in the road.
On lifting the manhole cover, which was situate directly opposite
the house, the sewer, which has a low gradient, was found
to be very foul. There was no intercepting trap between the
house drains and the sewer.
After eliminating all other probable sources of infection,
it would seem to be highly probable that the defective condition
of the house drains, opening directly into the manhole, without
an intercepting trap, and at the dead end of the foul sewer,
may have been the cause of this outbreak. The owner of the
house was at once called upon to relay the drains and strip the
walls, and the premises were thoroughly disinfected throughout
by the Council's officers. The sewer was dragged and cleansed,
and, in addition, a large upcast ventilating column was erected
close to the dead end, for ventilating purposes.
Another outbreak occurred in a house in Landseer Street.
The premises were occupied by two families. The first case
was notified on the 23rd September, in the person of William
L., aged 2. Some plums which the patient had eaten a week
previously were suspected to have been the source of infection,
but this would appear to be doubtful, as he was unwell and
under medical attention from the 30th August. Owing to the
illness of the patient's mother, he had been looked after by the
family living in the lower part of the house. On the 3rd and
4th October, Mrs. B. (who had looked after William L.) and
her two children were notified to be suffering from enteric fever.