Report of the Director-General of Public Health, New South Wales.

  • New South Wales. Department of Public Health
Date:
[1932]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Director-General of Public Health, New South Wales. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    171/174 page 131
    (Papers 31/1020.) A CASE OF MALARIA ACQUIRED IN SYDNEY, N.S.W. (E. L. Morgan.) During 1931 a case of malaria occurred in a female, aet 9, B.S., living with her mother and father at Botany, a suburb of Sydney. She was born at Sydney, w'as one of a family of ten (five brothers and five sisters) and had never been out of Sydney. No member of her family gave a history of malarial infection nor had they been in areas where malaria was known to exist. Apart from measles and whooping cough, the family had been free from illness in recent years and for six months prior to the present illness the patient was in good health and had never been away from the suburb in which she resided. History of Present Illness.—On 23rd November, 1930, the patient complained of a pain in the stomach and experienced a “ cold shiver ” which lasted half an hour and was accompanied by sweating of the forehead. The shivers recurred daily at the same time and the patient had to go to bed to keep warm. On 2nd January, 1931, she was admitted to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children where she was found to be suffering from malaria, a blood slide showing the presence of numerous benign tertian parasites (Plasmodium vivax). Enquiries at the patient’s home and at five houses in the immediate vicinity failed to yield any information as to a possible carrier of malaria. The doors and windows of the patient’s home were fitted with gauze screens, and the mother stated that she regularly sprayed the house with liquid mortein. On searching the house and an outbuilding used as a motor garage a few Culicines, but no Anophelines, were found, although this latter species is known to exist in the locality. Botany is an industrial suburb with a population of moderate density which includes a sprinkling of Southern Europeans and Asiatics who have come from malarial countries and might reasonably afford a means whereby a mosquito could become infected with parasites. I am indebted to Dr. Steigrad, Chief Resident Medical Officer of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, for drawing attention to this case. Malaria was made a notifiable disease in New South Wales during the period March, 1915, to November, 1919, and during this period 229 cases wTere notified, but of these twm only were acquired in New South Wales. The case now recorded appears to be the seventh in recent years where infection was acquired within the State. Particulars of these cases are given below:—- Date. Case. Age. Sex. Place of Residence at Time of Infection. Type. Case Reported by. 1915 F. B. 58 M Gosford District . Tertian ... Dr. Svdney Jamieson. (1) 1919 F Wvontr . Dr. W. Evans. (2) 1921 Mrs. M . 33 F Tumbarumba District .. ” ’i 1921 F Forbes . „ L Drs. Harry J. Clayton and 1921 Aboriginal Barraba . f >’ J Leslie Utz. (3) 1926 24 M Sydney (Gladesville) ... 99 ... Dr. R. Angel Money. (4) 1931 B. S. 9 F Sydney (Botany) . 99 • • • Dr. E. L. Morgan. A further case of interest was reported by Fairfax and Cleland in 1914 as a case of “ congenital ” malaria, in which a baby girl on the tenth day after birth showed the presence of malarial parasites. The mother, an Australian, had had several severe attacks of malaria during a stay of five or six months in the Federated Malay States. She then came to Sydney, where she resided for two months before the baby was bora. 1 S. Jamieson, Medical Journal Australia. 20th February, 1915, page 163. 2 W. Evans, Medical Journal Australia, 20th December, 1919, page 526. 3 J. H. Clayton and L. Utz, Medical Journal Australia, 7th May, 1921, jage 382 (3 cases). 4 R. A. Money, Medical Journal Australia, 28th August, 1926, page 283. 5 E. W. Fairfax and J. B. Cleland, Annual Report Director-General of Public Health, New South Wales, 1914, page 202; [15 graphs, 1 photograph.] Sydney: Alfred James Kent, I.S.O., Government Printer—1934.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3