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suffer mainly from vomiting and abdominal discomfort and the incidence was
as great in children not staying to school meals as those who did.
The first case had occurred on the 6th June, 3 more children had
fallen ill on 10th June and on 12th June 13 children had vomited,some of them
more than once. I decided therefore this was an outbreak of epidemic vomiting.
Nose and throat swabs and faeces specimens were taken from a sample of
the children and proved negative.
The children affected were excluded from school for one week, but
45 more children fell ill during the 24 hours from 4 p.m. on 12th June to
4 p.m. on 13th June. These 45 were excluded and their brothers and sisters
and their immediate neighbours in class. 61 more children fell ill during
the week-end, 12 more on the 17th, one more on the 18th, one more on the 19th,
3 on the 23rd, one on the 26th and one on the 27th, in addition, three of the
School Welfare workers became ill on the 16th June and were excluded. The
Junior School on the same campus got off more lightly with 20 cases on 16th
June, 15 on 17th June and 2 on the 18th. Smaller numbers were involved at
two other Schools in the northern half of the Borough, 18 children at one
Infants' School and 19 at one Junior School. By the end of June the epidemic
seemed to be at an end but a further school was affected in September with
about 60 cases, and there were a further 6 cases at the original school.