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FOOD-BORNE SONNE DYSENTERY
An interesting outbreak of food-borne Sonne dysentery occurred at
the end of the year. A child attending a private nursery was notified
as a case of suspected food poisoning and it was found, on investigation,
that 10 other cases had occurred at the nursery within the same two days.
All the children affected partook of dinners which were partly prepared
by a neighbouring cafe but only children who eat meat were ill. Investigation
showed that prior to the outbreak an infant at the cafe had
been suffering from diarrhoea, which was subsequently proved to be
Sonne dysentery, and both parents were found to be carrying the
organism. All the 11 affected nursery children were proved to have the
same organism. The nursery staff were free from infection, as were
three "non meat-eaters" and a number of part-time children who did not
eat dinners. Fortunately none of the affected children was seriously
ill and, owing to excellent co-operation by all concerned, few
secondary cases occurred.
As soon as the nature of the infection was established, the
nursery was closed pending satisfactory clearance certificates for a
sufficient numher of children to warrant its re-opening.
The outbreak is instructive as showing how easily dysentery
infection can be transported, since the parents of the infant at the
cafe, although using the kitchen, were not directly concerned in the
preparation of the nursery children's meals.
EPIDEMIC WINTER VOMITING.
Considerable attention has been drawn lately to outbreaks of
epidemic vomiting and an investigation was carried out in a school in
mid-September, 1953, at the invitation of the Divisional Medical
Officer, London County Council.
The school concerned was temporarily housed in one wing of a
modern L.C.C. School, The Sulivan. Some 60 cases occurred, reaching a
maximum incidence on the 18th September. Sulivan School children were
barely in contact with the visiting school but 14 cases occurred there,
with a maximum incidence on the same date. The last recognised case at
either of these schools was on the 25th September. Both these schools
used the same dining room for dinners but the Sulivan School had the
first sitting. A neighbouring school attended the dining room daily
for a third sitting. This school had no recognised cases in September
when the other two schools had cases but between the 28th September and
10th October, some 19 cases of vamiting occurred there. Also at the
end of September an outbreak of vomiting was reported, affecting 15 out
of a total of 31 inmates of a Borough Council Hostel (5 of these lived
quite separately from the others and were all unaffected). 4 children
from the Hostel attended the Sulivan School and one attended the third