Typhoid carriers and Vi agglutinins

Abstract

Seven more carriers, all possessing appreciable quantities of Vi agglutinins, are added to those already known.Vi agglutination tests performed on 2526 inhabitants of the Transvaal, both native and white, showed that 5·3 % had similar quantities of Vi agglutinins.A fair number of these positive reactors were further examined for the presence of typhoid bacilli in their excreta, but the number of positive findings was very small.It is argued that there are a large number of typhoid faecal carriers who are such minimal excreters that the typhoid bacilli in their stools escape detection.We wish to thank Dr T. Lötter, Acting Medical Officer of Health of Pretoria, and his staff, for their kindly help in collecting the material for this paper. Our special thanks are due to Lieut.-Col. H. Nelson, Medical Officer of Health of Pretoria, now on active service, for his never-failing interest in our work which has been such a great encouragement.