[Report 1950] / School Medical Officer of Health, Exeter.

  • Exeter (England). City Council.
Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1950] / School Medical Officer of Health, Exeter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    53/94 (page 49)
    9. A youth, aged 16 (a painter and decorator), onset 30.9.50 ; admitted to hospital as “ suspect appendicitis ” on 4.10.50., but was transferred as a case of poliomyelitis on 5.10.50 ; he died on 10.10.50 from pulmonary collapse due to diaphragmatic paralysis. No source was traced. 10. A woman, aged 31, complained of dizziness, nausea and feverishness on 28.9.50 and was regarded as influenzal. On 2.10.50 pains in shoulders, neck and headache. Admitted to hospital 8.10.50., developing paralysis in both legs and left arm ; she was still in hospital at the end of the year. No source nor subsequent contact cases were traced. 11. This boy, aged 7, was at school on 9.10.50., when he had a headache. Next day he was feverish and had a stiff neck. Admitted to hospital on 11.10.50 with generalised weakness arms and legs, but made a complete recovery. No source was found. 12. This case occurred in a baby of three months, the onset being on the 24th October. The baby then had an early weakness of all its limbs with neck rigidity. In hospital, the paralysis deepened, all four limbs became completely paralysed and the baby was dangerously ill for nearly two weeks and was left with a well marked residual paralysis of all four limbs. The child was removed to hospital on 28th October. On the 24th, that is, the date of onset, the mother was laid up with pains all over her body and a temperature and a stiff neck ; and the baby’s brother, aged 4, had a similar clinical picture at the same time. There were no other cases discovered in the street among contacts of the children and the baby had not been away from the house nor had the mother or the other child. The father, who showed no symptoms, had been to his work each day, but had not gone any- where else apart from that. The history obtained here was undoubtedly very accurate, and there is little doubt that this household showed three cases of anterior poliomyelitis, two of which were abortive and the third in the young baby very severe, leaving severe residual paralysis. All three cases developed at the same time and so must have been infected at the same time, but the source of infection was never traced. 13. This was a woman of 48 with onset the 12th November. She was seen on the 14th November when she had a spastic condition of her right leg with slight meningeal signs. She had been moving about Exeter, but had not been outside the town. She had been visited by many friends and neighbours all of whom were interviewed, but with negative results. She lived with her daughter of 17, the house being shared with a young couple who had a baby of 2 years. No other member of the household was affected. Dr. Magill was not convinced at his clinical examination that this was a case of polio- myelitis, but her C.S.F. was considered in hospital to be positive. There were no secondary cases discovered. 14. This case occurred in a probationer nurse in a hospital. The onset was 8th November 1950. There was a history of cold and sore throat on the 27th October. She did not report sick and went on working in the male surgical ward and two days later changed to the Children’s Ward. On the 5th Novem- ber she had pains in the lower costal region. On the 8th November she went home for four nights off. She was unwell in the evening with occipital head- ache and stiff neck. She stayed for two days in bed and then again got up for the next two days and returned to the hospital on the 12th November, still showing symptoms, aching in her shoulders, etc. The next morning she reported sick. She still had aching pains in her thigh and occipital headache and some indefinite neck stiffness. On the 15th her temperature ’ was 99 and she had some weakness in the flexors of her hips. Her knee jerks were diminished. The hospital reported no other illness among her colleagues in the hospital. The children discharged from the children’s ward were followed up after their discharge and no illness was found among them. She was left with some weakness of her arms, abdominal muscles and legs. 15. The last case began on the 15th November, 1950. A boy of 20 developed a temperature with headache and neck rigidity and was sent straight into