More from the drawers

When we returned from our six year stint in Papua New Guinea at the end of 1975 our son Martin was hospitalised in Fremantle Hospital’s infectious disease ward with typhoid.
It was quite a shock as the last case of typhoid in Western Australia was in in the 1950s or 60s (?).

When we left Popondetta in PNG for our final flight back home we stayed over for a couple of days in Port Moresby with friends before flying south to Sydney. We had a few days in Sydney and because of a baggage handlers’ strike had to fly to Perth on an Air India 707. That plane and the general cleanliness in the cabin was a bit of a shock and later I thought that it was the source of Martin’s sickness.

During our previous leave from PNG we had purchased a wonderful old colonial house in Bicton and of course, when we moved back in all our friends and relatives came to welcome us home and take a look at the house.....around 60 people in all.

Less than a week after our return Martin got sick and listless. We went with him to a GP who was unsure what the problem was and suggested we watch him carefully. A couple of days later we returned to the GP and he immediately had Martin admitted to Fremantle Hospital and the next day or so test results showed he had Typhoid.

Every person we had had contact with over the previous three weeks had to be contacted and tested by Public Health. That included the friends in Port Moresby. The PNG Health Department had an investigation as it was thought that the Popondetta fell within the three week contact/infection period. No one tested positive.
We, however, had to remain isolated from the general public.

Then the media circus got into gear. Daily phone calls and visits to get some tidbits to pad out the story. In all there were 12 newspaper articles in the one newspaper.
Click to enlarge the image

After 5 weeks in the infectious disease ward, Martin was discharged and returned home for good. Whew!