Medical Officer's annual report [to] Durban Corporation.

Durban (South Africa). Public Health Department.

Date:: [1964]

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical Officer's annual report [to] Durban Corporation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

18/144 (page 8)

over the face and arms which could easily have been regarded as chickenpox, ■were it not for evidence of contact with his sister® An intensive vaccin¬ ation campaign in the Durban North area where these cases had been staying ensued together with systematic contact follow-up and surveillance ® For¬ tunately no further cases occurred® Episode 2§ Involved 8 cases9 4 being discovered in Durban while the remaining 4 were found at their homes In the ^Richmond Farm Area88 just outside the kwaMashu Bantu Township® All cases were admitted to the Pyrmlands Quarantine Station in Durban® All 8 eases were epidemiologicaXXy related® The first case was discovered on 50 th June, 1964 in the Fever Ward of a local hospital 9 where the child had been admitted direct from Richmond Farm on the evening of 29th June, 1964 as a case of chickenpox® This child had luckily been placed on a verandah with, only 4 other chicken- pox cases and was fairly well separated from the rest of the ward® These 4 close contacts were treated prophylactically with 'Marboran88 and vaccin¬ ated, but one child subsequently developed smallpox - exactly 12 days later® Vaccination in-this child did not wtake and there were no previous vaccin¬ ation marks® There were no further secondary eases in the hospital. Case 3, already in the healing stage, was spotted by an alert Health Visitor on district work and follow-up of the contacts at the home address in KwaMashu Township led to the finding of ease 4 (early papular stage®) These eases ware blood relations of Case 1 from the Richmond Farm area - from whence they had come only one to two weeks earlier® Case 4 was possibly infected at the kwaMashu address .and was thus accepted as a local case® As a result of these cases 4 more smallpox cases were dis¬ covered by the State Health Department at the Richmond Farm home from whence eases 1, 3 and 4 had originally come. Intensive vaccination campaigns followed, especially in the kwaMashu Bantu Township, and no further cases occurred® Episode 5s Concerned a Bantu child of 2 years A© had been brought from Swaziland suffering from the disease® ‘This case arrived in Durban on the 26th August, 1964 and was discovered in the Chesterville Bantu Township after being reported t© the Department by a Bantu Nurse Aide. Again, intensive vaccination of this area was undertaken and there were no further cases. It is recalled that a massive vaccination campaign covering the whole of Durban was embarked upon in 1963 after the discovery ©f a case of smallpox in Durban - the first since 1951® The good coverage obtained during that time, together with the renewed campaigns with each of the three episodes of smallpox this year, was probably a major factor in holding the spread of the disease to a minimum. Episode 4s In addition to the abovementioned smallpox cases a fourth episode of a suspect smallpox case occurred on the loth June 1964® This was a Bantu male aged 18 years from the Umzinto district who was seen at the outpatient department of a local hospital and then immediately admitted to the Farmlands Quarantine Station® As this case had spent one night in Clairwood, intensive vaccination of this area was carried out® The final clinical diagnosis, however, was severe impetigo associated with chickenpox, and laboratory tests were all negative for smallpox. The following table depicts the vaccinations performed during the above episodes. 8®