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76
Bacillary Dysentery.
On 20th November I was consulted by a local medical practitioner
with regard to an outbreak of "query food poisoning" in
a house in Birkbeck Road. Bacteriological investigation showed
that two children were suffering from bacillary dysentery. Three
other children in the house had suffered from similar symptoms
during the previous week.
On 23rd November I addressed a circular letter to all medical
practitioners in the area drawing attention to the clinical features
of these cases and asking to be notified of any similar cases among
their patients.
As the result of my own visits, of notifications and messages
from medical practitioners, of reports from school nurses and school
attendance officers I found that a mild type of bacillary dysentery
was very widespread in this area.
The majority of cases have been so mild that the parents have
never even deemed it necessary to call in a medical practitioner;
and in many cases the children have continued attending school.
The onset of the illness is sudden, with diarrhoea and colic
lasting about 48 hours. Recovery is generally complete in from a
few days to a week.
None of the patients I saw was seriously ill, and removal
to hospital would not be called for, even if the accommodation
were available. Institutional treatment, however, will have to
be provided for serious cases should they occur. In the meantime
the only available measures of control are isolation at home (as far
as is possible), school exclusion of patients and contacts (as far as
is possible), exclusion of contacts engaged in the handling and
distribution of food, and disinfection of infected premises.
During the year 1937 some 35 cases of Dysentery were notified;
of these 31 were treated at home and four in hospitals as follows:—
1. L.C.C. (N.W.) Hospital Transfer from Elizabeth Garrett
Anderson Hospital.
1. L.C.C. (E.) Hospital Notified as Dysentery whilst
being treated for Poliomyelitis
in Queen's Hospital.
1. L.C.C. (Grove) Hospital Transfer from Hospital for Sick
Children, Gt. Ormond Street.
1. Hospital for Sick Children Child taken to O.P. and admitted
as an In-patient.