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PROBLEMS OF A TYPHOID CARRIER
On January 29th, 1964, a Jamaican child, aged 10
months, who had been admitted to a children's hospital a
week earlier, was notified as a case of typhoid fever.
The child lived in a house in which there were thirteen
people, all Jamaicans. Hie front room on the first
floor was occupied by a man and his wife (Mrs. A) and
their daughter aged 10 years.The back room was occupi ed
by a woman, her daughter, aged 2½ years, and her son
was the sick child admitted to hospital. The other occupaints
were spread over rooms on the ground and second
floors. They were interrelated and, generally speaking,
lived as one family, Mrs. A doing most of the food pre paration.
There was a kitchen on the ground floor which was the
one mainly used, and another on the second floor which
was used occasionally by some of the occupants of the
upper rooms. There were also two W.C's - one on the
ground floor and one on the second floor - both of which
were used in common by all members of the household. The
house had no bathroom and there were no wash basins.
Personal ablutions were carried ait in the two kitchens,
each of which had a sink and water supply.
The occupants were clean in their habits, and their
standards were above average. They had all been li ving
in this house since September, 1963, and in this country
for 3 or more years. None of them gave a history of
recent illness and all were well at the time of the first
and subsequent visits. The sick child had been in the
care of a registered daily minder; another child in the
house went to a day-nursery, and another attended school.
All the contacts of these children were well, and f aeC al
examinations on three occasions revealed no pathog enic
organisms.
Examination of the house contacts gave two positive
results (Feb.5) Mrs. A and her daughter, aged 10. They
lived in the room next to the mother and sister of the
boy who had been taken ill, and took meals with them
Both were symptomless, and gave no history of recent
illness. Mrs. A. and another woman living in the house
had been employed in a local pickle factory for more than
a year.