Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-5r2nc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-04T18:17:50.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Epidemiological aspects of an outbreak of encephalomyelitis at the Royal Free Hospital, London, in the summer of 1955

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

Nuala Crowley ,
Merran Nelson  and
Sybille Stovin
Nuala Crowley
Affiliation:
Bacteriology Department of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Royal Free Hospital, Gray's Inn Road, London, W.C. 1
Merran Nelson
Affiliation:
Bacteriology Department of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Royal Free Hospital, Gray's Inn Road, London, W.C. 1
Sybille Stovin
Affiliation:
Bacteriology Department of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Royal Free Hospital, Gray's Inn Road, London, W.C. 1
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

An outbreak of encephalomyclitis of unknown actiology occurred in the Royal Free Hospital Teaching Group in 1955. The disease which affected about 9% of the population was probably a viral infection spread by personal contact. People of all ages were attacked but those under 30 were most susceptible. Institutional life was an important factor in determining the case incidence which was highest among nurses, orderlies and resident domestic staff. The clinical picture was one of encephalomyelopathy, with lympho-reticular reaction and relapsing myalgia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , March 1957 , pp. 102 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1957

References

Acheson, E. D. (1954). Encephalomyelit is associated with poliomyelitis virus: an outbreak in a nurses' home. Lancet, ii, 1044.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauwens, P. (1955). Electrodiagnosis in motor unit dysfunction. Proc. R. Soc. Med. 48, 194.Google ScholarPubMed
Bjørneboe, M. & Gormsen, H. (1943). Experimental studies in the role of plasma cells as antibody producers. Acta Path, microbiol. scand. 20, 649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnet, F. M. (1955). Principles of Animal Virology. Academic Press Inc.Google Scholar
Burnet, F. M. & Fenner, F. (1948). The Production of Antibodies. 2nd ed. Melbourne: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Compston, N. (1956). Communication to B.M.A. Congress, 11 07 1956.Google Scholar
Dimsdale, H. (1957 a). Folia psychiat. neerl (in the Press).Google Scholar
Dimsdale, H. (1957 b). Chapter on ‘Acute encephalomyelitis of virus origin’. Modern Trends in Neurology, second series, ed. Williams, D.. london: Butterworths (in the Press).Google Scholar
C., von Economo. (1917). Encephalitis lethargica. Wien. Klin. Wschr. 30, 581.Google Scholar
Fagroeus, A. (1948). Antibody production in relation to the development of plasma cells. Acta med. scand.(Suppl.) no. 204.Google Scholar
Hill, R. C. J. (1955). Memorandum on the outbreak amongst nurses at Addington Hospital, Durban. S. Afr. med. J. 29, 344.Google ScholarPubMed
Lancet (1956), A new clinical entity? Annotation, i, 789.Google Scholar
Litwens, J. & Leibowitz, S. (1951). Abnormal lymphocytes (‘Virocytes’) in virus diseases other than infectious mononucleosis. Acta haemat. 5, 223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macrae, A. D. & Galpine, J. F. (1954). An illness resembling poliomyelitis observed in nurses. Lancet, ii, 350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, A. H. E. (1953). The reticular tissue and ‘The reticulo-endothelial system’. J. Path. Bact. 65, 29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pellew, R. A. A. (1951). Clinical description of a disease resembling poliomyelitis seen in Adelaide, 1949–51. Med. J. Aust. 1, 944.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsay, A. M. & O'Sullivan, E. (1956). Encephalitis simulating poliomyelitis. Lancet, i, 761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, A. T. (1956). Some aspects of the Royal Free Hospital epidemic. Ann. Phys. Med. 3, 81.Google Scholar
Rivers, T. M. (1949). Viral and Rickettsial Infections of Man, 2nd ed.New York: Lippincott.Google Scholar
Sigurdsson, B., Sigurjonsson, J., Sigurdhson, J. H., Thorkelsson, J. & Gudmundsson, K. R. (1950). Disease epidemic in Iceland simulating poliomyelitis. Amer. J. Hyg. 52, 222.Google ScholarPubMed
White, D. N. & Burtch, R. B. (1954). Iceland disease; a new disease simulating acute anterior poliomyelitis. Neurology, 4, 506.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed