[Help during the paratyfoid-A epidemic in Kirkenes in 1943-44].

Finnmark is the northernmost county in Norway. Kirkenes played a prominent part in the Second World War, and suffered 328 Russian bombing raids. In June 1943, there was an outbreak of paratyphoid A in the town. Its water reservoirs were heavily contaminated from a camp for Russian prisoners of war. In November the situation became disastrous with 208 new cases. Six advanced medical students from Oslo and 16 volunteering Red Cross nurses were sent to Kirkenes for medical support. Their biggest problem turned out to be the large number of convalescent carriers excreting bacilli in the faeces. A provisional bacteriological laboratory was established. Almost the entire population of Sør-Varanger (10,000 inhabitants) was vaccinated with combined typhoid and paratyphoid A and B vaccine (TAB). The children were also vaccinated against diphtheria. Obviously the TAB vaccine did not protect against paratyphoid A. Officially, 254 Norwegian cases of paratyphoid A were registered in the course of the epidemic; the true number, however, was probably about 300. There was only one death, from intestinal perforation.