A RECENT STUDY OF CHOLERA WITH REFERENCE TO AN OUTBREAK IN TAIWAN IN 1962.

During the summer of 1962, cholera broke out in Taiwan after an absence of 16 years. This paper gives a full description of the prompt and energetic measures that were instituted to control the outbreak; these included the designation of emergency areas, the immediate detection and isolation of patients and probable carriers, and mass vaccination.In all, over 160 000 rectal swabs and stool specimens were examined for cholera organisms. The author's egg-starch medium, described in detail, proved very satisfactory for this purpose. During the main epidemic (July-September) 383 confirmed cases of cholera and 380 carriers were identified. While the over-all carrier: case ratio was thus approximately 1:1 the ratios in different age-groups varied considerably, being as high as 4:1 in children aged 0-4 years and as low as 0.3:1 in persons aged 55-59 years. The author suggests possible reasons for the older persons' tendency to develop clinical disease rather than become carriers.There were only 24 deaths in the outbreak (a fatality rate of 6%). The efficacy of vaccination was difficult to determine precisely, but in general more deaths and more cases occurred among the non-vaccinated than among the vaccinated.