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AN EPIDEMIC OF PRIMARY ATYPICAL PNEUMONIA IN NORTH QUEENSLAND
Author(s) -
DOHERTY R. L.
Publication year - 1957
Publication title -
australasian annals of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 0571-9283
DOI - 10.1111/imj.1957.6.3.189
Subject(s) - atypical pneumonia , outbreak , pneumonia , medicine , serology , q fever , incidence (geometry) , penicillin , antibiotics , pediatrics , virology , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , antibody , physics , optics
SUMMARY An epidemic of primary atypical pneumonia occurred in the Innisfail‐Tully district in the period November, 1954, to March, 1955. Febrile constitutional symptoms overshadowed the symptoms of pulmonary involvement. However, of 23 patients, all of whom showed radiological evidence of pneumonia, 20 had a cough. Three showed no abnormal physical signs in their chests. The average duration of fever was nine days. Five patients with similar clinical features showed no X‐ray changes. They are considered to form part of the epidemic. The patients showed no response to penicillin ; the clinical impression was formed that the broad‐spectrum antibiotics, especially tetracycline, were of value. Serological tests gave no evidence that Coxiella burneti or viruses of the psittacosis group were responsible for the outbreak. Only three patients of the 28 tested developed cold agglutinins ; two developed agglutinins against Streptococcus MG. Influenza virus could not be isolated from throat washings of seven patients. More than half of the patients studied were children. The epidemic appeared to reach its peak at the end of December, and the incidence diminished rapidly in January. Epidemics of primary atypical pneumonia have been described from army camps and from institutions ; outbreaks in scattered civilian communities, such as the one described, are uncommon.