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88
ENTERIC FEVER
Although notifications of typhoid fever are becoming unusual, a
number of persons suffer during each year from paratyphoid fever. This
last year has been exceptional in that no notifications have been received
of persons suffering from typhoid or paratyphoid fever.
DYSENTERY
The 58 notifications of dysentery received this year was the highest
number recorded for this district. It was largely the result of two outbreaks.
The first occurred amongst those, principally children, at a Council
housing estate and an extension from there to a school in another part of
the district but attended by children from this housing estate. The
outbreak which started early in February and lasted until well into April
involved altogether some 26 cases. The Sonne organism was recovered
from most. There were 15 home infected cases and a further 6 at the
school. The earlier phase seemed to be associated with contact at home,
the affected children being of school age and of under school age. From
the middle of March there were fewer from this locality, and from then
on most of the notifications related to pupils at the school who lived
in the same area as the other children or to the home contacts of those
pupils.
In May and June an Infants department of another school was
attacked, 12 pupils being affected, and the parents of another pupil. The
whole family of yet another pupil were affected, but only one, a child of
under school age, was notified.
Another grouping of cases involved two pupils of a private school
and three home contacts of one of the pupils.
Infection by the Sonne organism was introduced into a household
by a child of three years of age in March, four days later the mother
succumbed and a few days later two other children in the house.
In some of the other cases it is known that some other members of
the family had previously suffered from an attack, but the source of the
original infection was not detected, For instance, a boy of 7 notified m
February probably contracted his infection from his brother aged four
who had had diarrhoea lasting one day a few days previously, but the
source of his infection was not known. Another child was a pupil at a
school outside the district at which a number of children were affected. A
husband and wife succumbed simultaneously to a Sonne infection. Apart
from these instances, there were those cases where there was only the
single case with apparently no contact with any other. In September, an
early October, five persons were notified who had probably contracte
their infections while on holiday in different places abroad.
In spite of the figure of 58 being the largest number of notifications
of dysentery received in this district, it is probably still very far short of
being a true indication of all cases. So commonly on enquiries being made
about a case it is learnt that others of the household who have not been
notified have had some illness which is probably of the same nature.