Observations on the aerial transmission of the enteric fever poison, with a record of an outbreak presumably caused by that means of infection / by John Brownlee.

  • Brownlee, John, 1868-1927.
Date:
1897-98
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the aerial transmission of the enteric fever poison, with a record of an outbreak presumably caused by that means of infection / by John Brownlee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    looked for. It might be argued, however, that a disease which is due to infectiou of the digestive track may have an early autumnal seasonal prevalence from causes other than the more potent properties of the bacillus. This season also coincides with a large increase in diarrhceal disorders from the dietetic changes corresponding to it. But the fact that food epidemics, such as those due to pollution of milk, spread with equal virulence, whether they occur in winter, spring, or autumn (the most severe of such epidemics in Glasgow was at the end of April), shows that it is the bacillus which requires for its potency a favourable environment, and, that granted such, there is no need for its host to be enervated by summer heat or predisposed by seasonal unsuitability of food. From the fact already stated, that the virulence of the enteric bacillus is so slowly lost, we are led to infer what is a matter of general experience, that an epidemic of typhoid fever in a filthy locality, albeit sudden in onset, has a slow wane. The typhoid bacillus having found a resting place, has, it is true, a number to its days if suitable nourishment be not supplied to it, but it, un- fortunately, only too often happens that the same carelessness which gives it a foothold also affords it a continual supply of nourishment. As an instance of this longevity of the bacillus may be mentioned a curious incident in an epidemic at Coalville, Packington, in Leicestershire. One well which had been instru- mental in the spread of the disease was reopened thirteen weeks after it had been closed. The locking up of this well was followed by an immediate cessation of new cases, while the re- opening of the well was followed by a fresh outbreak. Further evidence, pointing in the same direction, is given by Dr. Child,* in a paper dealing with the history of enteric fever in Munich. This city, which is now almost ideally free from the fever, was formerly one of the plague spots in Europe. Of every 100,000 of its inhabitants, between 200 and 300 died every year from typhoid fever. This number of deaths probably represents ten times the number of cases, for in towns where the fever is endemic the victims are largely children, and the mortality con- sequently low. The conditions which favoured this prevalence in Munich were the following :— The city is built upon a mixed surface soil, beneath which is a * “ Transactions of the Epidemiological Society,” 1897-98.