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During the summer of 1962, cholera broke out in Taiwan after an absence of 16 years. This paper gives a full description of the prompt and energetic measures that were instituted to control the outbreak; these included the designation of emergency areas, the immediate detection and isolation of patients and probable carriers, and mass vaccination.In all, over 160 000 rectal swabs and stool specimens were examined for cholera organisms. The author's egg-starch medium, described in detail, proved very satisfactory for this purpose. During the main epidemic (July-September) 383 confirmed cases of cholera and 380 carriers were identified. While the over-all carrier: case ratio was thus approximately 1:1 the ratios in different age-groups varied considerably, being as high as 4:1 in children aged 0-4 years and as low as 0.3:1 in persons aged 55-59 years. The author suggests possible reasons for the older persons' tendency to develop clinical disease rather than become carriers.There were only 24 deaths in the outbreak (a fatality rate of 6%). The efficacy of vaccination was difficult to determine precisely, but in general more deaths and more cases occurred among the non-vaccinated than among the vaccinated.

A pandemic of El-Tor-type cholera began in south-east Asia during 1961. Many members of the medical profession, as well as government officials and the public, were confused by the relationship between the disease caused by the El Tor organism and classic Asiatic cholera. The authors observed large numbers of cholera patients admitted to San Lazaro Hospital, Manila, early in the Philippine epidemic, and in the present communication they draw attention to certain clinical and epidemiological features of so-called El Tor cholera. The paper not only describes the patients and the epidemic, but also suggests some of the treatment needs during such an epidemic. No indication was found that the disease caused by the classic cholera vibrio is different from that which is designated the El Tor variant.