View report page

On October 14th a further notification was received, of a girl aged 6,
attending a second school. The onset of her disease was October 8th. On
the same day I circularised medical practitioners resident in the district asking
them to let me have information regarding any case which was at all suspicious
in order that if necessary it could have further investigation. As a result of
this, one definite case, one probable case, and one query case of acute
poliomyelitis came to light. The definite case had been admitted to a London
hospital (a fourth hospital) and had died the next day, the subsequent diagnosis
being ? meningitis ? poliomyelitis. The probable case had been admitted to
yet another London hospital (the fifth). It was thought at one time to be
poliomyelitis, then to be rheumatism, and then again to be probably
poliomyelitis.
The query case had been admitted to another hospital for observation
(this case remained unconfirmed). A circular letter to local hospitals also
brought to light another definite case, a child aged 23 months, and one probable
case, a child aged 15 months.
Three days later, on October 17th, another child, aged six weeks, a
brother to and living in the same house as one of the previous cases, was
removed to hospital as a definite case. The facts that two (and probably three)
cases had occurred in the infants' department of one school and that two other
cases had occurred in the same house rather indicated that infection might be
spreading in epidemic form. Accordingly, since sending patients to various
London hospitals made administrative control more difficult, arrangements
were made with the county medical officer for cubicles to be set aside at one
of the county hospitals for diagnostic purposes. Medical practitioners were
again circularised and the opportunity was taken, after consultation with the
Ministry of Health, of recalling to them the symptoms and signs of the early
stages of the disease. Three patients were admitted to hospital under this
scheme in the two following days but were eventually diagnosed as suffering
from influenza, T.B. meningitis, and constipation respectively.
No further suspected cases were brought to the notice of the Health
Department until November 17th, when a boy, aged 8, was admitted to hospital
as a suspected case and was next day diagnosed as a definite case. He had
been attending a school unconnected with any of the previous cases. An
exhaustive enquiry was made at the school with regard to absentees and
contacts and these were carefully followed up. As a result it was found that
another boy, aged 8, who had been a close school-contact of the previous boy,
had been away from school since October 30th, and had been removed to a
67