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The hospital outbreak was suspected to be due to tinned
luncheon meat which was made up into sandwiches for members
of the nursing staff. The nurse who prepared the sandwiches
ate some of the meat as soon as the cans were opened and
became ill the same night; the evidence therefore pointed to
contamination of the meat at the canning factory. Two of the
sandwiches were submitted for bacteriological examination and
yielded cultures of coagulase - positive staphylococcus aureus.
In one of the family outbreaks various residual foods from the
meal suspected to be the cause of the poisoning were sent to
the bacteriologist who reported as follows:—
Gravy and fat from cooked veal, Bisto
and stewed apples No organisms isolated
Custard Coli of fœcal type isolated
Veal (raw) Hœmolytic Cl. welchii, fœcal coli
Flour A late lactose fermenting variant of
coli, non-positive polyvalent salmonella
agglutinations
It would appear therefore that the food was probably
contaminated by the member of the family who prepared the
food.
In four of the sporadic cases Salmonella typhimurium was
isolated from the patients.
The causative agent was not discovered in any of the
remaining cases although samples of suspected food and specimens
mens of faeces and vomit were obtained wherever possible and
submitted for bacteriological examination.