View report page

61
contributory cause of illness could have been the length of time
the food was kept in fairly warm conditions.
(c) The third outbreak under this heading involved two
middle-aged ladies living together. They resented the enquiries
and gave little information. They refused to submit faeces
specimens and the investigations had to be abandoned.
(d) The fourth outbreak involved two out of three young
ladies sharing a flat. Bacteriological examinations were
negative and there was little in the history of food eaten
suggestive of true food poisoning. It was significant, however,
that shortly before onset the two patients had made and eaten
a stew of green peppers. In view of the properties of green
peppers, it seems likely that the two sufferers had eaten too
many, rather than suffered from true food poisoning.
Single cases
In addition to the outbreaks referred to above, there were
thirty-two single cases of food poisoning notified. In twentyone of these, no causative agent was identified, but of the
remaining eleven cases, eight were found to be caused by
salmonella typhi-murium, one by salmonella Thompson, one by
salmonella St. Paul, and one by Clostridium welchii.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Smallpox
No case of smallpox was notified in the borough during the
year 1955. Many persons came to Kensington from places abroad
and 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 thirty-nine 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 1955 was fifty and, of
this total, ten were treated in hospital. There was no fatal
case during the year; in fact, there has been no death from
scarlet fever in Kensington since 1940.
Diphtheria
There were two cases of diphtheria notified during 1955.
The first patient was a female, aged twenty-five years, who
was admitted to hospital with a history of sore throat and
enlarged cervical glands three weeks previously. Four negative
cultures were obtained from her throat in hospital, but it was
believed that the bacteriology was affected by a course of
penicillin given prior to admission. The patient suffered from
palatal paralysis which cleared up gradually, and she was
discharged after a month's stay in hospital. The patient lived
alone and no close contacts were traced; she had never been
immunised. No further cases were reported.