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Whatever was the real nature of the poison that suddenly infected
the beef and pork with such virulence, the medium by which such
poison gained entrance into the meat was definitely proved to be flies,
which were caught and were themselves also submitted to bacteriological
examination, with the result that the same germs were found on
the suckers, legs and wings as were found (1) in the actual beef and
pork that caused the outbreak, and (2) in the coated dirty deposits of
putrefactive and fermenting materials (fat, vegetables, meat, etc.), on
the insides and outsides of the refuse cupboards and the fixed dustbin,
or ashpit, which were situated in a small yard at the rear of the shop.
The flies also showed, in addition, on bacteriological examination, the
presence of the bacillus staphylococcus citreus on their bodies (suckers,
legs or wings).
(c) During October, 1925, a death occurred from suspected
poisoning from the consumption of sausage, which was reported upon
bacteriologically as follows:—
Different portions of sausage were macerated in nutrient broth and
cultured for 24 hours. Subcultures from these tubes were then made
on plates of McConkey's neutral lactose agar One or two colourless
colonies were obtained, and these were picked off and sub-cultured.
The sub-cultures consisted of gram negative motile bacilli, and sugar
fermentations were then done with glucose, nannite and lactose
McConkey's media. The former two produced acid and gas, but not
the lactose. So far the organism resembled Bacillus paratyphosus
B, bacillus enteritidis of Gaertner on Aertrycke, but agglutinations
performed with the standard sera of the above organisms proved
negative. In view of the close resemblance to these very pathogenic
members, but a typical behaviour of the organism in litmus milk tubes
it was then deemed necessary to feed mice and guinea pigs on the
organism. None of these animals died as a result of this, though one
mouse had slight diarrhoea, from which it recovered. As animals of this
order are very susceptible to this group of food poisoning organism, it
was clear that the organism in question had no direct bearing on the
woman's death.
No other pathogenic organism was found in the material, and the
one isolated can hardly be deemed to be pathogenic. It would be best
described as a non-lactose fermenting-variant of Bacillus Coli, but
this classification is used to embrace a number of organisms that are of
doubtful significance and somewhat unusual behaviour.
Hadden, Best & Co., Ltd., Printers, 5, West Harding St., London, E.C.