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A sharp rise in mortality occurred during the first week of September. A total of 10,318 deaths was reported by a group of 100 major cities of the United States for the week ended September 5, exceeding by 27 percent the 3-year median for the corresponding weeks of 1950-52. This increase was associated with the heat wave which spread over States east of the Rocky Mountains in the last week of August and continued into the first week of September.

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Washington 25, D. C.

September 18, 1953

Vol. 2, No. 36
THE LISARY OF 12
Provisional Information on Selected Notifiable Diseases in the United States for
Week Ended September 12, 1953

A total of 2,098 cases of poliomyelitis was reported in the United States for the current week as compared with 2,138 (corrected figure) for last week. The corresponding total for last year was 4,052. The cumulative numbers of cases for both the calendar and "disease year" are below those for the corresponding periods of the 2 years 1949 and 1952, which showed high incidence. For the calendar year the cumulative total is 22,443 as compared with 26,435 and 31,261, respectively, for 1949 and 1952. For the "disease year," which begins about the first of April, the total is 20,929 as compared with 25,454 and 30,068, respectively, for the previous years of high incidence.

For the current week Pennsylvania, Indiana, and South Dakota reported sizable increases over the previous week in the incidence of poliomyelitis. Florida reported 48 cases for the current week as compared with 26 for the previous week. However, low numbers reported for a few previous weeks indicate that some of the cases for the current week may be delayed reports.

Thirty-six deaths from poliomyelitis were reported by 11 States as follows: New York City, 2; Ohio, 9; Illinois, 11 (of which 5 were in Cook County); Michigan, 2; Minnesota, 2; Virginia, 2; Arkansas, 3; Montana, 1; Washington, 1; Oregon, 1; and California,

2.

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL REPORTS

SEP 20

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINGS

POLIOMYELITIS CASES BY WEEK OF ONSET FOR THREE AREAS GIVING MASS IMMUNIZATION

NUMBER OF
CASES

30

0

30

Under 10 Years

Over 10 Years

NORTH CAROLINA
Caldwell Co.

0

Catawba Co.

30

Under 10 Years

Botulism

Dr. W. L. Halverson, Director, California Department of Public Health, reports a case of botulism in a person who lived alone and did his own canning. Type B toxin was recovered from a jar of home canned string beans put up by the cold pack method. The findings were from the same canning lot but not from the jar which had been opened and eaten.

Infectious encephalitis

Dr. Halverson reports that 9 cases of arthropod-borne types of encephalitis have been reported in widely scattered areas of California. Seven cases were Western equine and 2 were St. Louis types.

North Dakota reported 17 cases of infectious encephalitis for the current week.

Psittacosis

Dr. W. R. Giedt, Washington State Department of Health, reports that evidence of 3 human cases of psittacosis were discovered through laboratory tests during July. The illness in 1 person occurred early this spring but in the other 2 it was recent. In addition, psittacosis infection was discovered in birds obtained from several sources in one county, the original source being traced to another county. As a result of these findings a small aviary and a pet farm have been placed under quarantine and several other places are under observation.

Typhoid fever

Dr. Greenberg reports a small outbreak of typhoid fever in New York City. Two children and their mother became ill with the disease but the father was not affected. Positive stool cultures were found in one child and the mother and a positive Widal test in the other child. The family arrived in New York City the latter

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NOTE.-The above chart shows the number of cases of poliomyelitis in certain counties of North Carolina where mass immunization with gamma globulin was administered. Arrows indicate the week when mass immunization, limited to children under 10 years of age, was given. Final conclusions regarding the efficacy of this measure cannot be drawn until additional detailed data have been collected and studied.

It is to be noted that a shift in age distribution of cases from younger to older ages has been found in the progress of other outbreaks, including an observation by Frost in 1916.

part of July. They were from Cuba where the incidence of the disease has been high. It is possible that the mother and one child were infected in Cuba. The other child may have been infected as a result of contact with the others. The onset of illness in this child was about 3 weeks after arrival in New York.

Shigellosis

Dr. S. C. Kravitz, Maryland Department of Health, reports an outbreak of shigellosis in a summer camp for boys. During a period of 48 hours approximately 140 campers and counselors became ill with fever, malaise, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. Following the explosive outbreak, cases continued to occur at the rate of about 2 per day for the next 2 weeks. Stool cultures from the patients revealed Shigella sonnei. Stool specimens from the kitchen help and waiters were cultured and a positive culture was obtained from the cook. At first he denied any illness, but later claimed that he had diarrhea about 3 days after the outbreak began. Samples of food were cultured but negative results were obtained. The drinking water, the milk, and the swimming pool did not appear to be involved.

Tetany-like reactions in infants

The Food and Drug Administration has been informed of additional cases of illness in some infants fed on SMA liquid. Symptoms have been hyper-irritability and sensitivity to noise, diar

rhea, vomiting which is often projectile, and convulsive seizures. This was previously reported early in April 1953, and more recently the pediatric consultant of the Arkansas State Board of Health reported the occurrence of additional cases. Early in 1953 investigation revealed that the illnesses followed the substitution of palm oil for coconut oil in the manufacture of the product. The new cases occurred even after palm oil was eliminated and the old formula reestablished. Replacement by the manufacturer of such stocks with the original formula fortified with pyridoxine hydrochloride is incomplete. Health officers, hospitals, and pediatricians and other physicians are requested to report promptly all tetany-like reactions in infants who are fed this or similar product. The Food and Drug Administration has recommended immediate discontinuance of the sale of the old formula product.

Influenza

Dr. E. H. Lennette, California State Department of Health Laboratory, has reported to the Influenza Information Center, N.I.H., 2 cases of influenza A diagnosed by the complement fixation test, having onsets July 3 and July 25, from 2 areas in California.

The WHO headquarters in Geneva has received report of a mild epidemic of influenza B in Melbourne, Australia, occurring recently.

Table 1. COMPARATIVE DATA FOR CASES OF SPECIFIED NOTIFIABLE DISEASES: UNITED STATES
(Numbers after diseases are category numbers of the Sixth Revision of the International Lists, 1948)

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Addition: Washington, week ended September 5, 2 cases.

5Deductions: North Carolina, week ended August 22, 1 case; Kansas, week ended August 29, 1 case. Addition: Arizona, weekended

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Symbols.-1 dash (-): no cases reported; asterisk (*) : disease stated not notifiable; parentheses, ( ) : data not included 'n total; 3 dashes (---): data not available.

Table 2. CASES OF SPECIFIED DISEASES WITH COMPARATIVE DATA: UNITED STATES,
EACH DIVISION AND STATE FOR WEEK ENDED SEPTEMBER 12, 1953

(Numbers under diseases are category numbers of the Sixth Revision of the International Lists, 1948)

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