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22
Typhoid and Paratyphoid Fevers
Four cases of typhoid fever were notified. One of these was
a Spanish girl who had come to this country to work and the other
three cases were of persons who had been on holiday in Spain or in
the Canary Islands, and developed the disease during or immediately
after their return. All the cases made satisfactory recoveries,
Seven other people who had been contacts or who had been on
similar holidays in Spain were investigated but no evidence of typhoid
fever was found,
A mother and her seven month old baby who had been on
holiday in Spain were found to be suffering from paratyphoid fever.
After they had recovered from the disease they continued to excrete
the organisms but as the husband, who had remained well, was also
excreting similar organisms, the mother and baby were allowed
home. They remained well but continued to excrete paratyphoid B
organisms for some weeks.
The other case of paratyphoid fever occurred in a man who
had recently come to this country from Pakistan, The organisms
in this case were found to be paratyphoid A, which is less commonly
found and the organisms were of an unusual antigenic structure.
The patient made a satisfactory recovery.
Poliomyelitis
Only one case of poliomyelitis occurred in Hampstead during
the year, and this was of the non-paralytic type. In one suspected
case the diagnosis was not confirmed.
Dysentery
There was a large increase in the number of cases of dysentery
which totalled 62, Of this number 32 were single cases and 21 of
them were associated with an outbreak of the disease which occurred
at the Gospel Oak Primary School in St, Pancras, In some cases the
children were quite ill but all recovered although some continued
to excrete the organisms for a long time.