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72
Details of the three minor family outbreaks are given
below:-
(a) A man and his wife suffered from food poisoning
after eating pork brawn. Bacteriological examination revealed the
causative agent to be Salmonella typhimurium. Other samples of
the brawn taken from the distributors, and the manufacturers, whose
premises were in another borough, proved bacteriologically unsound.
Production and distribution of the brawn was stopped until a
satisfactory standard of hygiene was achieved at the manufacturer's
premises.
(b) Twins, aged 5 months, were infected with Salmonella
typhimurium and spent a period of approximately one month in
hospital before recovery. The source of the infection was not
traced.
(c) A mother, aged 41, and her child, aged 4, suffered
from Salmonella typhimurium food poisoning. The source of the
infection was not traced.
Outbreaks of undiscovered cause
The one family outbreak notified as being due to food
poisoning involved a father and young son, who were also notified
as suffering from Sonne Dysentery. Bacteriological evidence
suggested that their illness was in fact mild dysentery, and not
food poisoning.
Single Cases
In addition to the outbreaks, 27 single cases of food
poisoning were notified, and two single cases were otherwise
ascertained. No causative agent was identified in 19 of these
cases. The identified agent which caused the other 10 cases was
Salmonella typhimurium.
Salmonella Infections not food-borne
One family outbreak of Salmonella infection was discovered during 196O. This involved two female children (aged 2
years and 9/12) and one woman (aged 2l). The causative agent
was Salmonella enteriditis, and the infections cleared after
suitable medical treatment.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Smallpox
No case of smallpox was notified in the borough
during 1960.
In the Ministry of Health's Memorandum on Vaccination
against smallpox, it was 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 23 members of the staff of the public
health department were vaccinated or re-vaccinated by the Medical
Officer of Health.
Notice was received from the Ministry of Health that
smallpox had been diagnosed in a man who had arrived from abroad
by air. At the time of his arrival, the man was in an infectious
state and had moved around in London considerably before feeling
ill. The man had travelled by underground train and taxi and had