Journal of the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases

Show abstractHide abstract

An acute diarrheal disease with abdominal pain and fever occurred collectively among children of an elementary school in Tarui Town, Gifu prefecture in a period from May 6 to 8 in 1966. Some of the patients were initially treated under the diagnosis of bacillary dysentery, because of the presence of mucus and blood in their feces, while, some others were treated as food poisoning or common cold. They all recovered in a few days.
Persons having above clinical signs at that time were limited only to the school children and further secondary infections among school children or their families were not observed. No abnormalities were found in tap water in the school.
In bacteriological tests, E. coli 0-143: K_×1 H-was isolated from the feces of 50 patients out of 95 patients tested. Thus, from clinical and epidemiological viewpoint, it was concluded that the outbreak was caused by this E. coli. Although its infectious route has not been made completely clear yet, supposed in great possibility to have been contaminated with this organism and responsible for the outbreak was school lunch served on May 4.

View full abstract

Download PDF (725K)

Tamura reported that there has fairly long been existing epidemic haemorrhagic fever (EHF) in Osaka City in the form of an endemic and there is likely to be a great possibility of its spreading to other parts of this country. This motivated the author to make public his experience with this disease in northern and eastern Manchuria at the time when he was a member of the special medical team of the then Japanese Imperial Army.
Since 1938, Japanese army had begun stricken by a hitherto unknow disease in northern and eastern Manchuria. At an outbreak in Songo and Sanchinfu, northern Manchuria, in winter of 1941, the number of patients including soldiers and villagers counted as many as 500. Mortality rate of this epidemic was. aboto. the recuthout 15%. Later, in 1942, the special medical team, before mentioned, was set up and dispatched epidemic areas. The discovery of EHF was thus brought about by them in that year. The firstognition of its viral and infectious nature was made through an experiment carried out by the ar

View full abstract

Register with J-STAGE for free!