[Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, Crawley U.D.C.

  • Crawley (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1959
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, Crawley U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/44 page 3
    In neither case could the source of infection be tracedo Fortunately modern methods of treatment have to a large extent robbed this disease of its terrors. Although the summer of 1959 was dry and warm, Crawley had an excellent record where Poliomyelitis was concernedo One man was thought to be suffering from paralytic poliomyelitis and notified accordingly, but hospital investigation did not confirm the diagnosis. Two cases of non-paralytic poliomyelitis were notified and admitted to Foredown Isolation Hospital in June, ~ a boy of 4 years from Langley Green and a woman of 28 years from Ifield. In both cases the initial symptoms were highly suggestive but rapid recovery followed. Virus investigations both from the patients and from all family contacts were completely negative. There must be considerable doubt whether either patient was in fact infected by a virus of the poliomyelitis group. Two single cases of Food Poisoning were notified. In July a girl of 15 years living in Northgate was aidmitted to hospital at Redhill with suspected appendicitis. However bacteriological examination showed her to be suffering from a Salmonella typhi-murium infection and she was transferred to Blotching]^ loDoH. Careful enquiries at the home failed to reveal the source. In November a man living in Pound Hill, but working as a representative for a large firm in London, attended a social function in Marylebone. Information was received from the M.OoH. of that borough that a large outbreak of Salmonellosis had occurred aind we were asked to trace any persons who had attended. The man in question had suffered from suggestive symptoms for which at that time he had not sought advice, and investigation showed him to be infected by Salmonella typhi-murium. Although every effort is made to trace the source in all cases of Salmonella infection, it is very difficult to do so in single or sporadic cases. The investigation of an outbreak is usually much easier. The importance of thorough bacteriological investiga- tion is exemplified by a family where two children only had symptoms. However all nine members were found to be affected, while the mother continued to excrete organisms for four months. In this case, as in two other single cases of typhi-murium infection, the source could not be identified. Another family consisting of parents and four children was investigated following the admission of a two-year-old child to hospital, where she was found to be suffering from a Salmonella typhi-murium infection of a very unusual type. The three other children were symptomless excretors. It was later found that other cases had occurred in Sussex, where infection by the same organism
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