View report page

FOOD POISONING
There were 22 notified cases of food poisoning in the Borough
during 1955, four patients were admitted to hospital, and fortunately
there were no deaths. One case was due to salmonella bovis morbificans,
arising from an outbreak in Islington, and one arose from an
outbreak in a hospital outside the Borough, the cause of which was
not discovered. The remaining 20 were single cases, 10 being caused
by salmonella typhi-murium, one by salmonella bovis morbificans,
and 9 from unknown causes.
It is not often that one can be certain of the food which has caused
the infection and in only one incident, concerning four members of
one family and the occupant of the flat below, was the source clearly
established. In this case the five persons concerned suffered diarrhoea
and vomiting after eating one Monday a shepherd's pie made from
the remains of an aitchbone of beef cooked for Sunday's dinner.
A young child in the family who did not have this meat was the only
one not affected. Throat and nose swabs taken from the housewife
who cooked the food gave a report positive to staphylococcus aureus.
Although the kitchen and the house in general were spotlessly clean
and the mother extremely careful it would appear she had unwittingly
infected the members of her family.
Investigation of a case of food poisoning involves extensive inquiries
at the patient's home, shops serving the household, restaurants
or canteens at which food may have been obtained as well as the collection
of suitable material for laboratory examination. In this way it is
sometimes possible to limit an outbreak by stopping the sale of suspected
food or recovering unconsumed portions of infected food.
Prompt notification of food poisoning (or suspected food poisoning)
by the family doctor is invaluable as even one day lost in commencing
investigations may mean that the offending food is no longer obtainable.
A large proportion of notified cases is stated to be of unknown
cause and it has been suggested that an unknown virus may be responsible
for some of them. This further stresses the need for careful,
prompt investigation of each case.
Two portable "clean food" exhibits prepared by the Ministry of
Food were displayed in the Town Hall foyer for a period of two weeks.
These were designed to emphasise that the responsibility for kitchen
cleanliness rests firmly upon each individual. It is difficult to estimate
the effect of such displays, but there is no doubt that continued
education of the public is very necessary before any spectacular
reduction in food poisoning cases can be obtained.
WEIL'S DISEASE
In my annual report for 1954 was included an account of a case of
leptospira canicola, an infection transferred from dogs to human beings.
During 1955 a drainage inspection assistant was off duty with an
13