The Wedding Guest

One clear, cool evening last June, Diane and Herbert Rang were married in Los Angeles. After the ceremony at the West Adams Presbyterian Church, the young couple, both of Korean descent, led the way into an adjoining hall for the wedding banquet. There 300 guests sipped fruit punch and consumed platefuls of traditional Korean fare: tuna, popped rice, olives, tea and rice cakes.

Nearly a month later, a Los Angeles doctor stopped in to see an ailing patient. He quickly spotted some disturbing symptoms : high fever, intestinal pain, diarrhea. He ordered analysis of blood and stool samples. Back came confirmation of his worst fears: typhoid fever. Next day he found similar symptoms in a second patient. Thoroughly alarmed, he notified the Department of Health.

The department's medical sleuths found that the two typhoid victims had but one contact in common: on a cool evening in June, they had both attended the wedding of Diane and Herbert Kang.

When a third case stemming from the wedding was reported next day, the Department of Health went into action. Their quarry: the carrier who must have transmitted the typhoid. Five investigators and two nurses got in touch with all wedding guests they could trace, had them checked for infection. But many people at the party had just drifted in for the fun, and their names were unknown. As the investigators rang doorbells, three more guests came down with typhoid.

Health officials asked local TV and radio stations for help. Hourly appeals were broadcast, asking wedding guests to report for examination. Many of the guests had left town: some were as far away as Hawaii. By last week the number of typhoid victims had climbed to ten. One of them, eleven-year-old Tim Nahm, had died. Of the 300-odd guests only 231 were accounted for.

Then, on the third day of the search, health officials tracked down and isolated the infected carrier. They refused to give his name, announced only that he had handled the food served at the wedding. It had been the biggest local outbreak of the disease in 14 years. Neither Diane nor Herbert Kang showed any symptoms, but the memory of their happy wedding was sadly marred.

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