JAMA · 1962 · 30 citations · 5 references
Veterinary MedicineInfectious DiseasesMicrobiologyEpidemiologyInfectious Disease EpidemiologyOutbreak InvestigationBacterial Disease EpidemiologyBacterial EpidemiologyBacterial InfectionsDisease EpidemiologyDisease SpreadInfectious Disease DynamicsAttack RateCensus Tract AnalysisDirect Person-to-person TransmissionEpidemiological DiagnosisEpidemiology Of Bacterial InfectionsHousehold Transmission DynamicsSocioeconomic HeterogeneitySocioeconomic Stratification
An outbreak of 87 bacteriologically confirmed cases of shigellosis occurred from September 1961 through January 1962 in 41 households and one nursing home in Omaha, Neb. Forty-three of these cases occurred in children under 5 years of age. The clinical picture varied from a prostrating illness terminating fatally in a 2-year-old child to asymptomatic infections. The majority of the infected households were concentrated in a low socioeconomic, predominantly nonwhite area of the city, where epidemiological investigation demonstrated person to person transmission. Correlations with household congestion and dilapidation by census tract revealed the attack rate to be directly associated with poor environmental living conditions.
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