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37
Of the 2 adultsj, l, a housewife, aged 28 , had to he
placed in a respirator. She made slow hut satisfactory
progress, after severe respiratory paralysis and moderately
severe weakness of all limbs, until ahle to "breathe without
artificial respiration. Arrangements were made for her to be
removed to a Rehabilitation Unit for treatment in connection
with the weak muscles.
The other adult case, aged 59p made a slow but uneventful
recovery.,
Acute Infective Encephalitis.
Only 1 case occurred during 1955 and this was in a baby
just under 2 years of age. The child was treated in Kingston
hospital and although seriously ill at the time made a good
recovery.
Enteric Fever (Typhoid or Paratyphoid)
There were no cases of typhoid or paratyphoid B notified
in Kingston during 1955. This is the eighth successive year
without notification of Enteric Fever.
Dysentery.
During March it was reported that there was an outbreak
of Dysentery in a Boys Home in the town. On investigation
it was quickly discovered that a cook was a carrier of sonne
dysentery and a total of 5 other boys produced faeces specimens
from which shigella sonne was isolated. The cook was
taken off duty immediately and the boys treated until specimens
were completely negative. No further cases occured.
A total of 5 other cases of dysentery was notified by
General Practitioners during 1955 and in each very thorough
investigations were made and every precaution taken to prevent
the spread of infection.
The 5 cases involved 3 families with no apparent
connection with each other viz., a woman aged 68, who was
treated in hospital and her grandson aged 4| a girl aged 4,
and her brother aged 2j and a boy aged 4. The onset dates
were all within 3 weeks during May and June. These were all
cases where diarrhoea etc., had led to diagnosis and notification
of dysentery although subsequent investigation did not
identify specific organisms from faeces specimens. The
illnesses may have been an air borne infection sometimes
referred to as summer diarrhoea.
The receipt of the notifications enabled full preventive
measures to be put in hand and instruction given in hygiene.
No further eases were reported.
Measles,
There were 170 cases of measles notified during 1955
compared with 419 in 1954 and an average of 315 for the
years 1950/54 inclusive.
Only 2 cases were removed to hospital and generally
speaking the illness was of a mild type with little by way of
complications. The largest number of notifications (96)
occurred in children under the age of 5, the majority of the
remainder being in the 5/10 age group (68) and only 6 at
other ages.