[Report 1954] / School Medical Officer of Health, Northumberland County Council.

  • Northumberland (England). County Council.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / School Medical Officer of Health, Northumberland County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/60 (page 20)
    OUTBREAK OF SCARLET FEVER AT BROWN RIGG CAMP SCHOOL, BELLINGHAM. (Report of Dr. J. M. McEwan.) This may only be in the nature of an interim report as, in spite of all preventive measures, sporadic cases may still occur. The course of the epidemic is shown in the table:—• Date of Notification. 26th October, 1954. Case. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13th November, 1954. 13th November, 1954. 14th November, 1954. 14th November, 1954. 14th November, 1954. 14th November, 1954. 19th November, 1954. 20th November, 1954. 2nd December, 1954. 13th December, 1954. The first case of scarlet fever was notified on October 26th, and was admitted to Walkergate. Contacts were kept under observation, but no special measures were taken. On Novem¬ ber 13th, two more cases occurred and on November 14th four more ; all were admitted to Scaffoldhill Hospital. Throat swabs were taken from all the children, and at the same time, all in the Camp, children and both teaching and kitchen staffs, were given a course of penicillin lozenges lasting for four days. A further case was notified on the 19th November and another on the 20th November, both within the incubation period of the disease. The four-day course of penicillin by mouth was repeated. Another case was notified twelve days later and a further case eleven days after that, each case developing after an interval longer than the incubation period of the disease. There were more cases before the Camp broke up for Christmas. The long interval between the early and the later cases suggested a carrier as the source of infection, but enquiry showed that during this interval several members of the kitchen staff had sore throats; swabs were not taken and sulphonamides or antibiotics were not given. It appears a reasonable assumption that the condition was streptococcal. When this was found, all members of the Camp staff were investigated and one teacher was found to have a positive swab.