Silage gas poisoning

The Iowa State Department of Health has reported a fatal case of silage gas poisoning in a boy who climbed into a silo that had been filled the night before with grass silage containing some alfalfa. The report states that "silo-filler's disease" also has been observed in Missouri and Minnesota. Drought and high nitrogen fertilization resulting in forage with a high nitrogen content are suspected as having a bearing on the formation of an oxide of nitrogen. This gas is odorless and colorless in low concentrations but is brownish yellow and irritating and lethal in high concentrations. It is said to have killed livestock and small animals in the vicinity of silos recently filled. High concentrations of carbon dioxide may also be found in high concentration in recently filled silos.

Insecticide poisoning

Mr. Evan Wright, Kansas State Board of Health, has reported on an investigation of insecticide poisoning involving 6 children living on a farm. At the time of the investigation 4 of the children were in a hospital being treated for a spasmodic cough, and the other 2 were being treated at home for the same

type of illness. Whooping cough was suspected but was said to be ruled out because of previous immunization. It was discovered that the children had amused themselves by spraying each other with a fly spray that was kept and used on a back porch. The spray contained chlordane in a petroleum distillate. Since the symptoms persisted over a period of several weeks it was considered that inhalation of the petroleum distillate was primarily responsible for the illnesses.

Gastro-enteritis

The Orange County Health Department, California, has supplied information on a waterborne outbreak of gastro-enteritis among employees of an industrial plant. Twenty-eight persons became ill after drinking water from a tap connected to pipes that had just been repaired. Repairs were made in the waterline at a place where it passed through a marshy area near a sewer outfall. Following an incubation period of 44 to 60 hours there was severe nausea and vomiting. Water samples yielded Escherichia coli, but stool specimens from 4 persons showed no pathogenic organisms. Continued on page 8

2Frequencies are too small.

The chart shows the number of deaths reported for 108 major cities of the United States by week for the current year, and, for comparison, the median of the number of deaths reported for the corresponding weeks of the 3 previous calendar years. (The median is the central one of the three values arranged in order of magnitude.) If a report is not received from a city in time to be included in the total for the current week, an estimate is made to maintain comparability for graphic presentation.

The figures reported represent the number of death certificates received in the vital statistics offices during the week indicated for deaths occurring in that city. Figures compiled in this way, by week of receipt, usually approximate closely the number of deaths occurring during the week. However, differences are to be expected because of variations in the

interval between death and receipt of the certificate.

While week-to-week changes in the total number of deaths reported for all major cities generally represent a change in mortality conditions, this may not be true for variations in weekly figures for each city. For example, in a city with a weekly average of 50 deaths, the number of deaths occurring in a week may be expected to vary by chance alone from 36 to 64 (d ± 2√d, where d represents the average number of deaths per week).

The number of deaths in cities of the same size may also differ because of variations in the age, race, and sex composition of their populations, and because some cities are hospital centers serving the surrounding areas. Changes from year to year in the number of deaths may be due in part to population increases or decreases.