TYPHOID CARRIER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20077, 25 October 1939, Page 6

TYPHOID CARRIER

DANGER TO PUBLIC DIFFICULTY OF CONTROL SPREAD OF INFECTION CHOICE OF OPERATION The fact that an established carrier of typhoid infection had been under supervision at the Cook Hospital for some time, and recently was permitted a "holiday” of a few days to relieve the tedium of existence in the wards, was referred to at the meeting of the Cook Hospital Board held yesterday afternoon, when, in reply to a question, the medical superintendent, Dr. R. J. B. Hall, stated that careful instructions had been given to the carrier to avoid close contacts witn tlie general public. The patient ;s a Maori, and according to the report of the medical superintendent, seven cases of typhoid fever recently under treatment in the Cook Hospital have been traced to contact with this man. Contagion can be avoided if the man can be controlled in his movements and contacts, but under the conditions of living in Maori settlements and homes, he is regarded as a distinct menace to the health of the community in his present condition.

Case Discussed Sympathetically

Members of the Hospital Board discussed the case with a good deal of syinpathy'for the carrier of germs, and Dr. Hall stated in reply to fur.her questions that the man had been placed in hospital by the district nealth officer, after it was established that he was the source of a fairly serious infection. The man had taken the position philosophically, up to the present, though he had become tired of enforced residence at the hospital.

The board was informed that an operation of a delicate nature would remove the source of infection from ;he man’s body, but that the choice/

of having the operation or not was entirely a matter for the carrier himself. Already he had been operated on extensively for other causes, and doubtless it would 'take time to adjust his mind to the necessity for undergoing further surgical treatment.

Dr. Hall added that the man was i good patient, and that the medical staff was anxious to show him every consideration. He was unfortunate in that he had to accept enforced residence in the hospital, or to some other form of restraint at the instance of ffie Health Department, so long as his condition remained as at present.