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specimens from the family showed that mother was infected but not father.
It was impossible of course, to say whether the mother had infected the
baby or the baby infected the mother.
There were no more cases notified during the summer. On the
15th October however, a boy of five was admitted to Hospital as a case of
Encephalitis. On the 22nd October his mother who slept in the same room
for a period was admitted to the same Hospital with the same diagnosis.
Both appeared to recover and were discharged. Faeces specimens had been
taken while they were in Hospital, but the examination of the faeces for
virus takes some time. The Laboratory was unable to give a definite
report until the 17th November. On the 17th November the Laboratory
reported that Polio-virus Type 1. had been isolated from the boy. In
view of the fact that both the boy and his mother had exactly the same
symptoms and signs, these two cases were regarded as cases of Poliomyelitis.
All the four cases of Poliomyelitis notified in 1959 were from
the Southern part of the Borough.
DYSENTERY
Practically all the cases of Dysentery notified in 1959 were
of Sonne Dysentery though there was an odd case or two of infection with
the parasite Giardia. There was something of an epidemic of Sonne Dysentery
in England in 1959 and it was not to be expected that Edmonton would
escape. As usual the younger children were mainly affected. In January
there were five cases in the All Saints Infants School and four cases in
the Croyland Road Infants School. Though two schools were involved these
nine cases really amounted to a family outbreak plus a few contacts of
that family. The family was fairly large and there were members of the
family at each school. In February there were five family outbreaks of
Sonne Dysentery. Members of two families attended the Brettenham Road
Infants School and one the Edmonton Day Nursery. There was also a further
outbreak within the Borough which did not in the main involve at the time
Edmonton residents.
On February 20th a child from Tottenham was admitted to the
John Gilpin Ward of the North Middlesex Hospital. She was found to have
not only the disease for which hospital admission had been sought, but
also Diarrhoea. The condition proved to be Sonne Dysentery and this
spread to a Staff Nurse, a Nursing Auxilliary and six of the children
in the Ward. The ward was closed for a fortnight and no further cases
developed in the hospital. One of the six children infected was an
Edmonton child and she was removed from hospital before the result of
the bacteriological examination was known. There was, however, no
spread to the family or to relatives or to relatives workmates. In
March the Dysentery appeared in the Eldon Road Infants School and began
to spread steadily. Special precautions were therefore taken in this
school. The Teachers paid special attention to the supervision of the
washing of the children's hands and hands were rinsed with antiseptic
after washing. The lavatory seats were swabbed with antiseptic twice
daily and the teachers checked periodically on the children's health
and unusual symptoms.
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