orld_:--

Almost unique in medical history is the case of a woman typhoid
carrier, who, it is said, will carry the bacilli with her through
life. The case is described by Dr Barbara Cunningham in a report
of the Manchester Medical Officer of Health. In order that the
woman shall cease to be a source of danger--as she has been
keeping lodgers--the health authorities are giving her 7s. a
week, and that, with her old-age pension of 5s., will be
sufficient to keep her without lodgers. The case has aroused much
interest in Manchester. The principal restrictions on the part of
the Health Department are that she must not cook or wash for
anyone. Anyone can, however, cook for her. In discussing the case
Dr Martin, who for 25 years was Medical Officer of Health for
Gorton, remarked that in some cases of typhoid carriers the
infection ceased to exist for a time, but it was unusual for it
to exist year after year. "The reason for the woman referred to
carrying the typhoid bacilli with her through life is," he added,
"because of a peculiarity of constitution. There is no remedy to
be found for it at present, and no means of freeing her from the
germs, hence the reward offered by an American to anyone who can
find a remedy for such cases. The germs themselves are proof
against remedies, and they go on multiplying. The woman is
incurable, and you cannot kill the germs without killing the
woman. It is the first case, to my knowledge, where the health
authorities have taken such measures to prevent a spread of the
infection." The history of the affair is interesting. The woman's
case had been reported to the authorities, and when her lodger
became ill with typhus she was suspected, and was found to be
giving off large numbers of typhoid bacilli. She was placed in
Monsall Hospital for two months, during which time she was
treated with gradually increasing doses of vaccine prepared in
the Public Health Laboratory, York Place. When discharged, three
separate tests were made as regards the typhoid bacilli. For one
week after her discharge the organisms did not reappear, but
during the second week a few colonies were grown, and in the
third and fourth weeks the number increased. Shortly after that
her lodger developed enteric fever.

This case is instructive, because it shows very clearly the utte