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employed in various capacities in the food trade and were excluded from their
employment. Also excluded from normal duties were two of the Council's health
visitors and two of its child care officers, all of whom had been in contact with one or
other of the households concerned during the relevant period. No secondary cases
occurred. The source of the infection was undoubtedly the child's father, who is a
known carrier of the disease. He has received a course of drug treatment in an
attempt to clear him of this condition, and a check is kept on him to ensure that he
is not employed in the food trade at any time.
The third case was a student, aged 16 years, who became ill after returning from a
holiday in France with her family. She was admitted to hospital where typhoid
fever was confirmed. The contacts of this case were mostly her school friends who
were traced and excluded from school until proved free from infection. It is almost
certain that in this instance the disease was contracted whilst on the Continent.
In addition to these cases occurring in the Borough we were concerned with the
contacts of cases occurring elsewhere. The first incident concerned two men who
were employed within the Borough in a food factory who had been in contact with a
case of typhoid fever elsewhere. They were excluded from work for a period of
one month.
During the autumn we were informed of a confirmed case of typhoid fever in a
holiday camp, where, amongst the guests, were 54 Ealing residents. Every contact
was visited and advised of the situation and their family doctors given relevant
information. Routine surveillance was undertaken and a number of food handlers
and school children were excluded.
Full statistical information is set out in Table 1 at the end of this report.
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