On a localised outbreak of typhoid fever in Islington, during the months of July and August, 1870, traced to the use of impure milk / by Edward Ballard.

  • Ballard, Edward, 1820-1897.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On a localised outbreak of typhoid fever in Islington, during the months of July and August, 1870, traced to the use of impure milk / by Edward Ballard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    APPENDIX. o A. The case of the boy who left the dairy premises ill on July 3 is remarkable. No medical man saw him in Islington, but on the 4th he was seen by Mr. Hochee, of Finchley. He writes : “ When I first ■saw him, he complained of pains in his limbs and throughout the : body, but more intense about the region of the kidneys and knee- joints, which were much swollen. He thought he had taken cold; he was very weak and could scarcely stand. The bowels were . apparently in a healthy state ; the urine scanty, with slight sedi- ment. I at first thought it a case of acute rheumatism, and i commenced with the alkaline treatment, and until July 7 he : seemed to be doing well; the urine was loaded with lithates, and became abundant, the pains were less severe, and the body had the peculiar acid smell which accompanies the rheumatic attack, with profuse perspiration. The bowels were moved once a day slightly, ; and the motions were rather dark.” Mr. Hochee tells me that the boy got so much better from these symptoms that he allowed him to : go out for a walk, and that he did walk out a considerable distance. “On July 7 diarrhoea commenced. I thought that the colcliicum which he was taking, in combination with bicarbonate of potash, might have brought it on, so left out the colehicum and put in a i little morphia instead. On the 8th, the bowels were more relaxed, i and the motions began to assume the character of the stools in enteric i fever. The pains which he had first complained of had ceased, the swelling of the knees had subsided; but there was tenderness over the abdomen, with considerable heat of skin. About the umbilicus there ' were a few pink spots ; there was tympanitis, but no haemorrhage I’ that I heard of. I soon changed my treatment to astringents and chlorate of potash with ammonia, and plenty of food and nourishing