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24
Food Poisoning

1. This was an occurrence at a school which mostly affected children in the Infants and
Junior Departments. The duration of the illness was in general 2 3 days of moderate severity
It was considered that in the circumstances of this outbreak the initial cases were probably
due to consumption of food infected with salmonella typhi murium but subsequent cases were
probably due to case to case contact.
2. This was a school occurrence which affected three teachers as well as children who
reported sick. The duration of the illness was up to five days and of moderate severity
Clostridium Welchii was recovered from stool specimens from children and staff but it was
not possible to examine the suspect meat dish as this had all been consumed In any event in
view of the nature of this organism the food would have appeared to be perfectly normal.
3. This was a school outbreak in which those taken ill included eight members of the teaching
staff, four members of the kitchen staff and the remainder children The duration of the illness
was 1-3 days of varying severity and since the food poisoning organism was Clostridium Welchii
which was found in the stool specimens and also in the pressed veal there would have been nothing
in the appearance or flavour of the meat to indicate the presence of this organism.
4. Occurrence at private school The onset of illness was rapid i e within three hours of
the suspected meal and with moderate or severe symptoms although not lasting in any case more
than approximately eight hours The meals for this school are prepared at a local restaurant and
delivered in bulk in containers The organism as reported in the above summary was recovered
from the food samples but not from any of the patients.