AIBU to report neighbours for typhoid

[Cinders29]

Hi,

So long story our neighbours moved in about 2 years ago. They're extremely messy - huge pond and trampoline and god knows what in the front, back garden has rabbits, dogs and about 50 chickens. Food everywhere , loads of outbuildings and isn't 'stuff everywhere' anyway - no real problem to us ( apart from when we tried to sell our house )

However, we've noticed over the last couple of years an increase in rats ( we live near fields so expected but they're encouraging them ) there are 1000s of what I believe to be rat holes into his garden from the field next door. Weve also seen cockroaches.

Anyway, my son became very poorly a few weeks ago and was admitted to hospital for 4 days. Turns out he had typhoid which is ridiculous in this county right? Anyway with him being at home etc I just don't know where on Earth this could have come from.

Google says it comes from cockroaches - does anyone the likelihood of this please ? Also - if we suspect should we report ? I'll be so angry if it's come from there but I don't wanna just go around accusing when it could possibly have come from somewhere else

@Cinders29 you may never find out how your son became ill. Children do all sorts as I'm sure you know. My son has ASD and I know that his curiosity is probably higher than his ability to stay clean!! As an example, my son has a habit of playing with the tap in the bathroom, putting his mouth around it ... yuch!! I have to constantly clean it. I don't know whether your ndn caused it at all - I am not scientific - however I would probably pursue it regardless - complain. Also consider animal welfare too.

Op it didn’t come from your neighbours. Have you not asked this question if the medical professionals or even googled?

It came from eating or drinking contaminated food. Or one of the below

using a toilet contaminated with bacteria and touching your mouth before washing your hands
eating seafood from a water source contaminated by infected poo or pee
eating raw vegetables that have been fertilised with human waste
contaminated milk products

Adults can be carriers And not know, and then if someone who was had shit or pee on their hands and prepared the child’s food they would have caught it. Alternatively the child could be eating stuff fertilised with human waste.

It’s nothing to do with your neighbours, irrelevant of what the rentokill bloke said.

I'll be honest, if I lived next door to your neighbours I'd report them to Environmental Health even if I hadn't caught typhoid.

I am frustrated for you OP with all the questions and comments. It's natural you'd be wondering where he'd caught it.

Yes, it could be your neighbour, but it could also be elsewhere. The fact there were cases a county away only a couple of months ago shows that it is not a one off, so maybe there are cases around. It's easy to catch things sadly. Even washing ends, it takes licking fingers before you do it and that's it.

Glad your boy has recovered well.

Neighbours down the street started to dump all sorts of things on their drive and eventually rats were seen there, another neighbours rang the Council who came out promptly and the rubbish, etc was moved. No rats since and, fortunately, the people moved on.

I hope that you are all well now.

Nothing to lose by contacting council environmental health about your neighbours.let them go and inspect and decide any action.
But you might never know how your ds contracted this.
Hope he is feeling better.

OP I suspect the insect you saw was a May bug (cockchafer). They do look rather cockroach like.

Someone’s telling tall tales here

What country did the neighbours family come from out of interest?

I would report the neighbours anyway - the rats alone need to be sorted. Does your ds play out in the garden - could he have touched/eaten something? Sorry you don’t say how old he is.

Hi , he is 8 and they are from Hungary.

I'm not telling tales for the last fucking time 🙄

I've just spoken to the doctor. She said as he and the rest of the family are well we do not need to do anything else and that if any of us become unwell they will re do a stool sample / antibiotics.

It was actually the doctor that told us to go to A&E and just said it makes sense now with him being so poorly.

She is too concerned about lack of action by PHE and said I need to insist they look into the neighbours. She seems to think it could be a possibility. She also said with everything going on - and hygiene standards being ramped up food poisoning has reduced significantly.

I questioned why the public health record hadn't been updated to show my sons case. She said 'they are probably very busy at the moment ' and laughed.

I'm going to speak to environmental health again today and see what they say and when the public health record is updated and / or I get it in writing confirmed diagnosis I will upload it to prove I'm not bloody lying 🙄

Interesting about may bug - could well have been

That’s odd, when I had it protocol in the UK was to test every person you lived with. Any who tested positive also then had to have three stool tests 48 hours apart to confirm the infection had cleared.

Just had a quick look and that is the protocol on the NHS website.

Hungary have less cases of typhoid per year than the UK.

I don’t understand the resp9nse of “if you are unwell we spill test the rest of the family” as typhoid carriers can be asymptomatic. Have you ever read about Typhoid Mary? She passed it on to and killed lots of people without knowing she even had it.

I don’t understand why they wouldn’t be testing you all and treating it much more urgently if it is typhoid? If this is all true it’s downright negligent of them (you could pass it to others!)

*will not spill

The cockroach was in your garden. You have absolutely no way of saying where it came from or by your own admission, that it was even a cockroach.

Next door have a messy garden.

Arguably by your logic your neighbours would have more right to report you. You're the one with a typhoid case and 'cockroach' sighting.

You've mentioned they're not from here and so are speculating they may have brought it over, which feels like extremely dodgy ground.

Yes, YABVU to report your neighbours. It's understandable you would want to know how your son became ill but pointing the blame at random people is not fair.

I want to know how 42 people died of ‘Teeth’...

Untreated abscesses in the upper jaw can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause death. (One reason why there's more to dentistry than scale and polish).

www.faceandjawsurgery.com/the-dangers-of-ignoring-a-dental-abscess/

Although it's interesting to speculate whether the authors of the 1721 chart knew that, or were just aware that some people died after a bad toothache (with a note that "bad" could possibly be an understatement).

I dont know why everyone thinks it's so unlikely to have seen a cockroach in this country there are 2 main types of cockroach that live in the uk... (german and oriental) look it up before claiming they dont! When we had new neighbours move in we had an infestation that took ages to get rid of, horrible little buggers they are!

I mean I'm not just randomly accusing my neighbours. I'm not accusing the other side ( who is an older gentlemen with MS that struggles to keep his house clean by his own admission ) I mean honestly if you seen the garden and house you really wouldn't be wondering why I'm questioning it. There's 50 chickens running around ( who frequently get in to our garden ) there's chicken shit and food EVERYWHERE - cockroaches and rats are both attracted to food sources it's in abundance next door, whereas our garden is extremely clean ( as far as gardens go ) no food left hanging around, dog poo cleaned up daily , lawn mowed regularly , tables disinfected daily so no I don't think it's unreasonable to assume the cockroach came from next door and not us. I mentioned those living abroad because obviously cockroaches are more common abroad, if not common in Hungary - I stand corrected.

Everyone

I will question environmental health re testing rather than the doctor

Sorry probably really boring everyone now 🤣 I've spoken to environmental health they reiterated do long as we carry on with good hygiene we will not spread it ( and due to time passed it would most probably be a non issue at this point )

I questioned the neighbours and he again said it would need to go down the complaint route. I'm absolutely baffled by this. So , let's just say it has come the neighbours and I decide to not make a complaint - EH and PHE would just ignore this, ignore there had a been a case of typhoid etc. Gobsmacked to be honest. His response was 'well yes this is the difficulty we face'

I pressed on said I think they have a duty to investigate all possible causes. He's getting the pollution team to call me to to discuss next steps ( basically would I want to complain 🙄 ) I will complain if I have to , I keep looking next door and thinking either way it's bloody disgusting and no matter how much I like them ( which I do, they're very lovely ) I'm not going to risk my family potentially getting ill.

Given your clear emphasis on hygiene etc it s still mysterious how your child would contract it. Maybe it s just one of those strange things. ?

Even if he picked up a cockroach you are clearly hot on hygiene your side. Did PHE suggest how he might have got it? If you dont go round for supper with your neighbour?

Well I mean it's possible he picked one up or touched a table outside that it ran across and we were unaware and didn't immediately wash his hands. Hot on hygiene or not these things happen especially when you have a child with autism. He can not communicate in a way to tell us he saw a cockroach etc so it's possible.

PHE just asked about where we'd got our food from etc so I assume they will be investigating the local farm shop, veg supplier and local shops 🤷🏼‍♀️ they haven't definitely said they'll be doing that though.

And yes, we may never get to the bottom of it - that's fine but I think certain things so at least be investigated due to the seriousness of the disease and also with how rare it is.

I mean, I would have imagined they'd want to come and check our house no? It's typhoid!!!