What disease might this be???!

[pjbuk007]

I would agree that this is almost certainly TB. 

The drug Isoniazid was introduced in 1952, and added to streptomycin and PAS in triple therapy.  So maybe she was one of the first to have that!  The drugs do have to be given over several months/years, in those days by injection.

I think it was salmonella (typhoid) not smallpox which came in the corned beef.  However, I did find the following re smallpox at that time.  But the treatment does not continue, well there was no direct treatment at all then.  You dealt with outbreaks by isolation and vaccination.

Cases of smallpox occurred intermittently. In 1950 there was an outbreak in Brighton, introduced by a fully vaccinated RAF officer recently returned from India. There were 26 cases, 13 of which were among nursing and medical staff, domestics and laundry workers at the hospital to which the earliest cases were admitted, and ten deaths.48 In 1952 an outbreak in Rochdale led to 135 cases with one death, and there were further importations in succeeding years.

I would still got for the TB.

[pjbuk007]

Oooh, and to be pedantic, there are not really topical diseases - topical is used to mean a medication applied to the skin not swallowed or injected.

Should point out that I know much less than most of you lot about the finer points of Family History, and find these fora really helpful.  It is a bit rusty now, but I am happy to share my medical knowledge if it helps!

[pippalew]

Oh Thanks all of you for some really great info!! I am certain it was TB, based on treatment info etc. I think I'll keep it to myself though, it's likely to provoke my more sensitive rellies!

[lesleyhannah]

I grew up in Liverpool, and there was a School of Tropical Medicine that did a lot of research on unusual diseases. My sister had a form of lymph cancer (she'd never been out of the UK) and it was doctors from the Tropical School that cared for her. I THINK the hospital was in Pembroke Place, but I'm sure google would have the answer. Maybe they will be able to help.

Good luck - these stories are what make genealogy so interesting.

Lesley

[pjbuk007]

I had a fantastic 3 months doing the Diploma in Tropical Medicine at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Pembroke place in the 80s.   Great course but also great fun in the clubs and pubs of Liverpool!

Not sure if they would help in this as it is isolation hospitals you want.  There are records on these in the National Archives, I had a quick look but not sure how you would pin it down to the record collection you want.

[pippalew]

Excellent stuff! I am looking for isolation hospitals in Liverpool, probably women only, around 1948-53, where have you looked? I find the national archives site confusing! Thanks, P x

[pjbuk007]

I put "isolation hospitals" in the search box on the front page of the National Archives site.

You can also put "isolation hospitals liverpool" and you get documents which might help, if you read through them.

My first search gave this:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/

The Welcome Trust holds a database, looks well worth searching there.  Also myriad other links.

Another site has access to the written history of the NHS.  If you do a FIND on the page you get some interesting snippets, could help some family historians, although mostly in note form and so not very detailed:

http://www.nhshistory.net/1948-1957.htm

Hope that helps!!

[pippalew]

Fantastic! Many thanks, Pippa x

[frenchdressing]

This may be a bit off track for Pippa but as there seem to be quite a few of you that know about diseases may I ask a question?
I know that TB is caught by inhaling the tubercle bacillus but what exactly is the difference between TB, Phthisis and Consumption? And, do the latter two still exist?
Many thanks.
Pat