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vaccinated before going abroad. She became ill the following day ; on the
13th she went into a coma and died on the 15th. Post-mortem findings
pointed to a diagnosis of post-vaccinal encephalitis. Apart from the very
slight local lesion of the recent vaccination, there were two other well
marked vaccination scars.
ENTERIC FEVER
The pattern of having a few cases of enteric fever notified each year
was interrupted in 1958 and again in 1959 when no notifications were
received, not even amongst those who had spent their Summer holidays
abroad. This year, two cases were notified, both being boys of sixteen.
The first was admitted to hospital in July. He had been staying on holiday
out of the district a short time before the onset of illness. When admitted
to hospital eight days after onset he was free from symptoms but was
found to be excreting the para. B organism. In spite of all treatment over
a period of many weeks, he could not be freed from this organism. The
other boy apparently contracted a para. B. infection while on holiday at
a resort in this country. The other members of his family remained well.
DYSENTERY
Almost all the cases of dysentery which occur in this country today
are the result of an infection by Sh. Sonnei. At one time this was largely a
food infection occurring mostly in the Autumn. Today it is spread mostly
by direct or indirect personal contact, most cases occurring amongst or
being associated with school children. The extent to which any locality is
affected in any year now depends upon whether or not any school is
affected, and if so, how heavily. The first cases brought to light are usually
school children ; they presumably take the infection home and there
result in the infection of up to two-thirds of the child contacts and onethird
of the adults. By the time the attention of the authority is drawn
to the occurrence at school, many of the school contacts have also been
infected. In such circumstances, the cases notified are but a fraction of
those attacked. If no schools have been involved, then the occurrence of a
number of cases in one family assumes greater prominence. A typical case
was that of a boy of nine who was notified in April. It was learned that
many pupils of his school suffered from similar symptoms and even
members of the staff, but of these only one pupil and one teacher were
notified. This pupil contact was notified a few days after. She had had
similar symptoms a month previously and had only recently returned to
school. The breaking-up of the school for holidays stopped further spread
there. At his home though the boy's father, mother and sister all fell ill.
the same organism being recovered from them all. Of the many cases
involved in this incident, only six were notified.
In all, forty-one cases were notified during the year. There were three
family groupings. In February the illness of a boy of three was followed
by that of his small sister, his mother and father. The infection here was
almost certainly introduced into the household by a sister, a child of school