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36
Outbreaks due to unidentified agents
(a) Three persons belonging to the same family were
notified as cases of food poisoning after suffering with
severe symptoms of pain, diarrhoea and vomiting over a
period of 24 hours.
Faeces specimens from the patients were examined.
The remains of a bottle of pasteurized "sour cream" consumed
by the family on the day before the onset was also examined.
No organism of pathogenic significance was found in any
of these specimens.
(b) A mother and daughter living in South Kensington
were notified as cases of food poisoning. Before investigations
could be made, the family left Kensington for an
unknown address. The only information obtained was that
the two patients had suffered from a stomach upset, but had
recovered in a few days.
Single eases. In addition to the outbreaks mentioned
above, there were 13 single cases of food poisoning notified.
In 6 of these, no agent was identified. The remaining 7
cases were due to salmonella typhi-murium.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Smallpox
No case of smallpox was notified in the borough during
the year 1951. Many persons came to Kensington from places
abroad who were reported to have been in contact with smallpox.
All contacts were kept under surveillance until the possibility
of developing the disease had disappeared.
In the Ministry of Health's Memorandum on Vaccination
against smallpox, it is recommended that public health officers,
likely to have to deal with cases of smallpox at short notice,
should be regularly re-vaccinated at not more than yearly
intervals. During the year 28 members of the staff of the
Public Health Department were vaccinated or re-vaccinated
by the Medical Officer of Health.
Scarlet fever
The number of cases notified in 1951 was 68 and, of this
total, 23 were treated in hospital. There was no fatal case
during the year.
Diphtheria
Only one case of diphtheria occurred in Kensington
during 1951. This was an adult female who was an American
staying temporarily in this country. She had not been
immunised against the disease.
This figure of one case is the lowest ever recorded in
Kensington; the previous lowest figure was two cases which
was recorded for each of the years 1949 and 1950.
No death from diphtheria occurred during the year.
Diphtheria immunisation work, commenced by the Council
in 1934, was continued by the London County Council during
the year. A summary of the work carried out in Kensington