Report on an outbreak of scarlet fever during the summer of 1888, in a dairy custom / [Henry E. Armstrong].

  • Newcastle-upon-Tyne (England). City and county.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on an outbreak of scarlet fever during the summer of 1888, in a dairy custom / [Henry E. Armstrong]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Date of Aitaclc.—With the view of throwing h'ght on the origin of the outbreak, as much information as possible has been collected as to the dates on which the patients first began to feel unwell. The following is a summary of the particulars of 70 cases about which we have been able to gather definite information :— SUMMAEY OF DATES OF PIEST FEELING OF ILLNESS. o +2 -a -♦^ Disease. CO 1) 1—1 _>> CO >f 05 3 3 1-5 a 1-5 »-5 >-s H5 -3 1-5 1-5 o H SCAELET PeVEE 3 4 8 13 8 1 2 2 41 SOEE TheOATS 3 2 6 6 5 1 1 1 2 27 Diphtheeia 2 2 Total 6 6 16 19 13 2 3 1 2 2 70 From this Table it appears that 48, or G8 per cent., of the cases referred to began to feel unwell on one or other of the fii st three days of the present month. Above 70 per cent, of the Scarlet Fever cases date their first ailment from the same time. In the case reported by Dr. Scotland, as already stated, there is reason to believe that three children who fell ill on July 3rd were infected by milk from the same delivery which they consumed on June 30th. Whether this milk was consumed on the date of delivery in this and other instances cannot be ascertained. It is not probable, however, that in any instance it would be kept more than a day at this time of year. It may be that only one yield of milk was infected, and that its effect on the various consumers began to show on different dates, according to the quantity taken of that particular yield, or the circumstance of its being raw or cooked, fresh or old, etc. In one household where there were 3 cases of ailment (1 of Scarlet Fever and 2 of Sore Throat), beginning respectively on the 2nd, 3rd, and Gth inst.. Dr. Farquharson states that on June 27th the first of these patients had taken about half a pint of soured milk, that is, milk which had been standing since the previous day. The case was one of severe TonsiUitis, the gravity of which may, he suggests, be accounted for by the multiplication of the virus in milk undergoing acid fermentation. Personal idiosyncracy, e.g., a previous