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tory symptoms, but none of the other children had been ill. The
class was closed at once and contacts in other classes were excluded
from school.
Poliovirus type 1 was isolated from 19 of the 41 class contacts
but from none of the children in other classes and from none of the
staff. Further specimens were taken and after three weeks 11
children were still excreting poliovirus and they were not all clear
until the tenth week.
The patient's brother and those class contacts found to be
excreting poliovirus were kept in home and garden quarantine as
far as reasonably possible until a negative result was obtained.
None of their siblings or parents had an illness suggestive of
poliomyelitis. School contacts from whom poliovirus was not
isolated were excluded for three weeks.
Although the patient may have been responsible for the
introduction and spread of infection among her class-mates, it is
also possible that poliovirus was brought into the community from
another source, was transmitted to many of the children and became
apparent only when a non-vaccinated child was infected
and became ill. Symptomless excreters are frequently found among
close contacts, particularly children, of a paralytic case and it is
therefore difficult to assess the part played by vaccination in limiting
the number of cases among class contacts but the absence of
any further case may well have been due to the fact that thirty nine
of the 41 class contacts, including all those from whom poliovirus
was isolated, had been vaccinated.
Closing the infants' class when only one case had occurred
proved to be a reasonable precaution. Close co-operation between
the laboratory and the Public Health Department proved of the
greatest value in tracing the extent of the infection and in planning
the necessary control measures.
POLIOMYELITIS VACCINATION WEEK
A Poliomyelitis Vaccination Week was held from the 16th to
the 21st May, primarily for the benefit of the 25 to 40 years age
group. A great deal of preparatory work was done and the week
was very successful. The number of vaccinations carried out was
over 2,000 and the emphasis given to the importance of vaccination
against the disease brought in a good many people of all ages who
had previously omitted to be vaccinated. I should like to thank
the many volunteers who helped to make the campaign week such
a success.
The total number of persons of all ages in the South Eastern
Division who had been vaccinated against poliomyelitis by the
end of 1960 with two injections was 34,524 and with three
injections was 31,800.
DIPHTHERIA
No case of diphtheria occurred during the year, but this
disease is becoming more common throughout the country as a
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