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12
With the wide spread of contacts, especially from such
places as the Training Centre in Kensington which is attended by
children from a number of different boroughs, there was an increased
possibility of children who were absent when contacts
were examined, returning without swabs having been taken. A
form of procedure was therefore agreed with the County Medical
Officer setting out the responsibilities of the County medical
staff and the Borough medical staffs which will apply throughout
London in any subsequent outbreak of the disease.
Typhoid and Paratyphoid Fevers
A husband and wife had been on holiday in Tangiers and
during the latter part of the holiday and for a short time after
returning home the wife felt moderately ill but soon recovered.
Two to three weeks later the husband became ill and was admitted
to hospital where it was confirmed that he was suffering from
paratyphoid fever. Specimens of faeces from the wife, as a
contact, showed no evidence of paratyphoid but did show that
she was a carrier of salmonella typhi (Vi phage type E. 1).
Conditions in both patients cleared satisfactorily and after a
short time specimens were bacteriologically negative and
subsequent specimens have also been negative.
Another case of a typhoid carrier was found in a baby
of a few weeks of age. The infection was discovered from a
routine examination of all the children in a mother and baby home
following a case of diarrhoea in another child. The infection
was due to salmonella typhi of Vi phage type 46. The child had
been and was still being breast fed and intensive search did not
reveal the source of infection. The child was never seriously
ill and the infection cleared satisfactorily.
A case notified as typhoid fever was not confirmed.
Poliomyelitis
There were seven cases of poliomyelitis in Hampstead
during 1961. Four of the cases were accompanied by paralysis
and the remaining three were non-paralytic.