пэтог

October 12, 1956

Vol. 5, No. 40

For the current week 604 cases of poliomyelitis were reported as compared with 655 for last week. The corresponding figure for 1955 was 1,035.

Since the week ended August 11, when 8 cases of diphtheria were reported, the incidence of the disease has been increasing in general. For the current week there were 36 cases. The corresponding number for 1955 was 58. Of the cases reported this week, 8 were in Texas, 7 in Alabama, 5 in North Carolina, 4 in South Carolina, 3 in Indiana, and 2 each in 3 widely separated States. The cumulative number for the year to date is 1,058 compared with 1,180 for the same period in 1955.

The numbers of reported cases of poliomyelitis by type for the United States for the current week, disease year, and calendar year are:

Dr. E. S. Rabeau, Alaska Native Health Service, PHS, has supplied epidemiological information on the 3 cases of botulism reported in the Territory for the week ended August 18. One case was in a 62-year-old man who ate some beluga (white whale) which had been kept in seal oil. About 18 hours later he began to vomit, feel weak, became drowsy, and had blurring of vision. The patient was on a small river boat and it was 24 hours before he reached the hospital. Upon admission, he had diplopia, difficulty in swallowing, ptosis of the eyelids, generalized weakness, and some respiratory difficulty. His condition steadily grew worse, respiratory paralysis became greater, and the patient expired about 13 hours after admission to the hospital. The organism was not isolated, only heat-labile toxin was found, but it is believed to be type E botulism. The investigator has seen similar cases in previous years in which the organism was isolated. The other 2 cases were similar and were in a mother and her daughter. They had eaten some dried oogruk (bearded seal) meat about 36 hours prior to the onset of symptoms. The mother died, but the daughter's condition has improved and she is now out of danger.

Encephalitis

Dr. D. P. Conwell, Kentucky State Department of Health, gives preliminary information on an outbreak of encephalitis

in Louisville. Seventy-five cases with 9 deaths have been reported since the last week in July. The age range is from 7 to 90 years with a median of 46 years. The onsets have been quite sudden with vomiting, fever, severe headache, and chills. Spinal fluid counts ranged from 20 to 400, and the differential has varied since specimens were collected at various stages of illness. Convalescent sera from 16 patients has shown complement fixation titers of 1:8 or greater. Mosquito and bird sera are being collected for laboratory examination. (There has been no evidence of unusual animal illness in the area. This appears to be the first outbreak of St. Louis encephalitis in Louisville since 1933)

The California State Department of Public Health has reported 2 cases of arthropod-borne encephalitis for the latter half of September. This brings the total through September to 11-9 cases being western equine and 2 St. Louis.

This year to date, 96 squirrels have been submitted for rabies examination. Of the 81 with tests completed, western equine virus has been isolated from 4. This is the same number isolated from the brains of 80 squirrels submitted in 1955. For that year, no rabies virus was found in any of the squirrels.

Anthrax

Dr. E. J. Witte, Pennsylvania Department of Health, has reported a case of cutaneous anthrax in an 18-year-old man. The patient has been employed in a woolen plant for over 9 months. His job consists of breaking bales of raw wool as they arrive at this plant and feeding the material into a picker machine. Since it was customary for this patient to work stripped to the waist, his arms came into contact with the raw wool. A small lesion resembling an insect bite appeared on the medial aspect of his left forearm. It increased in size, and the plant foreman advised him to see a physician. Later the lesion was diagnosed as anthrax and the patient was admitted to a hospital. He could not recall any cuts or scratches at the involved site prior to onset. The wool being processed 2 or 3 days before the patient became ill originated from South America, India, Pakistan, Ireland, and Sardinia. The company that removes wool waste from this plant has had sporadic cases of anthrax among its employees in recent years.

Gastro-enteritis

Dr. James R. Amos, Missouri Department of Public Health and Welfare, has reported an outbreak of gastro-enteritis following a family reunion dinner. Of 42 who ate the meal, 12 became ill with headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, abdominal cramps, visual disturbance or soreness around the eyes, retraction of head and neck, stiffness of joints, and numbness of body from 4 to 22 hours later. Diarrhea was not a common symptom. Many of the items of food were contributed by several people but there was no common food eaten b, all who were made ill. Stool specimens collected from hospitalized patients were negative for pathogenic organisms. Fresh and canned beans were tested for botulism but the organism was not found. Fresh beans were also found negative for arsenic poisoning.