[Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, Walsingham R.D.C.

  • Walsingham (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1943
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, Walsingham R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The organism responsible for the infection was finally identified as the Shiga type of dysentery bacillus, which is unknown in this country except in people who have recently been abroad. As none of these cases had been out of the country, extensive enquiries were made for any contact from overseas who might have introduced the infection into the village, but no such possible carrier could be found. Shiga dysenterj7 being known to be endemic in Italy and North Africa, suspicion then fell on Italian Prisoners of War working on the land and easily accessible to children roaming from the village. With the co-operation of the Army, certain gangs of prisoners were selected for examination and four of them with suspicious results of blood tests were removed for full investigation to an Army Hospital. None of these men were found to be excreting the organism during the period of investigation, but as such excretion may be intermittent, this is no absolute proof that they were not responsible for the out¬ break. In a large camp of prisoners it was obviously impracticable to ask for the investigation of all of them, so the source of the infection is still a matter for conjecture. The outbreak does, however, show how important it is in war¬ time to be on the look-out for rarer types of infection not usually found in this country. The probable cause, i.e- the eating of some excretally polluted food by the first child, also shows how dangerous it may be for children to accept sweets and other food from strangers. It is interesting to note that during the investigation of about 100 cases of diarrhoea reported from Ryburgh and neighbouring parishes, a small group of cases of Flexner dysentery was discovered and three cases of food poisoning due to a Salmonella infection. A carrier of Flexner dysentery was found and treated, with satisfactory results. There were 88 cases of Measles, twice the figure for 1942, but only 9 cases of Whooping Cough during the year. Tuberculosis. There were 26 new cases of tuberculosis notified during 1943, compared with 28 in 1942. Fourteen of these cases were of the pulmonary type and there were 12 deaths, 5 more than in 1942. At the end of the year there were 140 cases on the register, a decrease of three on the figures for 1942. Diphtheria Immunisation Scheme. The Council’s scheme has continued to operate very satisfactorily during the year and I have pleasure in recording the continued enthusi¬ astic co-operation of General Practitioners and District Nurses. It is largely due to their assistance that the percentage of children treated has reached a new record figure. During the year 275 children under school age, and 155 school children received a complete course of immunisation. The final figures at the end of December 1943, were estimated to be:— Age 1-5 years .57% Age 5-15 years 88.3%