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and. he was removed to hospital. All contacts remained well and. submitted
negative specimens. The patient recovered, in hospital.
The third case was a child aged 11 months, who arrived in
this country during September from Damascus. The child was admitted
to hospital during the second week of December and it was suspected
that the child had contracted typhoid from one of its parents. Enquiries
showed that the family had been regularly inoculated for the
past five years. Specimens were submitted by all contacts and the
mother and an elder child (aged nearly 2 years) were confirmed as
"carriers" and admitted to hospital for treatment. All other specimens
were negative. The mother and both children were discharged from
hospital, although the mother was still submitting positive specimens.
She is undergoing a course of treatment prescribed by her own doctor.
Puerperal Pyrexia
During 1961 the number of cases of this disease notified was
168 of whom 116 were persons normally resident outside Kensington.
All but two of these cases occurred in hospital.
In order to show some perspective in reviewing the incidence
of puerperal pyrexia (defined as any febrile condition occurring in a
woman in whom a temperature of 100.4°F. or more has occurred within
fourteen days after childbirth or miscarriage), the following table
gives an analysis of the causes of pyrexia in the notified cases:-
Cause
No. of
cases.
Breast infections 8
Respiratory infections:-
Upper 3
Lower 11
Urinary infection. 33
Pyrexia associated with abnormal delivery:-
(a) A.R.M. or Forceps 3
(b) Caesarian section 3 6
Genital tract infections 12
Parotitis 2
Allergic reaction 1
Causes unknown after investigation 92
Total 168
In addition to the above, information was received concerning
36 patients normally resident in Kensington, who were notified as
suffering from puerperal pyrexia in other London districts.
No death occurred under this heading.
Pneumonia
There are various forms of pneumonia, but the only types
notifiable are (i) acute primary and (ii) acute influenzal pneumonia.
During the year 28 notifications were received, 12 being acute primary
pneumonia and 16 being acute influenzal pneumonia. Of the total, 4
cases were removed to hospital for treatment.
The number of deaths from pneumonia (all forms) was 111, and
the number of deaths from influenza was 11 during 1961.
Dysentery
Ninety-seven cases of dysentery were notified during 1961,
all of which were bacillary in origin, the majority being due to the
Sonne bacillus. Generally speaking, the cases were of a mild type