Dr S. Monckton Copeman's report on an outbreak of enteric fever in the borough of Harwich and its neighbourhood, 1912-13.

  • Sydney Copeman
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr S. Monckton Copeman's report on an outbreak of enteric fever in the borough of Harwich and its neighbourhood, 1912-13. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    at Harwich, of the occurrence of which he learnt from Dr. Gurney, obtained their milk supply from one particular dairy farm. Dr. Cook’s report, a copy of which was subsequently received by the Board, included a tabular list of ten cases of enteric fever which had already been notified, together with certain explanatory details, especially as regards probable date of onset of illness in each instance. As regards the cases that had, up to this date, been notified in Harwich and Dovercourt, Dr. Gurney was able to state, as the result of special enquiries on the point, that in all the more recent instances reported to him, the milk supply was being obtained, either wholly or in part, from the particular dairy farm referred to by Dr. Cook. Dr. Gurney further stated that he had been informed that cases of enteric fever had also appeared on H.M.S. “ Cherwell,” a unit of the 9tli destroyer flotilla, then stationed in Harwich Harbour; and that he had been in communication with the senior medical officer in charge, as it seemed not im- probable that these cases were in some way causally related to those which had recently been notified (on shore) in Harwich, Dovercourt and Parkeston. Enteric Fever in the Borough of Harwich prior to the Outbreak. The Borough of Harwich had been comparatively free from enteric fever prior to the outbreak under investigation, only four cases of the disease having* been notified during the year 1911, and eight cases during 1912. Of these eight, however, two only (one notified in the week ending January 20th, 1912, and the other in the week ending September 21st, 1912) occurred prior to the last fortnight in December. The first cases of enteric fever notified in the Borough of Harwich subsequent to the week ending September 21st, 1912, were confined to a couple of dwellings in a somewhat isolated group of more or less insanitary property overlooking the harbour, and known as Hill Cottages. From these houses six cases were notified between December 15th and 24tli; three of the six on the date first mentioned. Four of the six cases lived in one of the cottages invaded; the fifth case was that of an infant aged 15 months, which just before its illness had been living in the same cottage; while the remaining case, a girl aged 124 years, living in the adjoining cottage, was the daughter of a woman who had been working next door, and having most of her meals there for the previous eight months. The first four of these cases were two sisters and their respective husbands, who all lived in one cottage rented by the women’s father. The fifth case was the child of one of these couples. As regards the source of infection, the dates on which the several patients first became ill are consistent with disease having been contracted, in five of the cases, by per- sonal contact with one of the women,* whose attack probably * The milk consumed was said to have been obtained from a source not under suspicion as having contributed to the spread of enteric fever, but as a child was usually sent to fetch the milk, and as a shop at which not only milk from the infected supply but also “sweets” were retailed is nearer to Hill Cottages than that from which the milk is supposed to have been obtained, the possibility of infection from the milk supply could not definitely be excluded.
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