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3. Of the 17 infected persons (notified cases) connected
with the rounds of "odd" man E.F., 6 occurred
in houses at which he called daily (all
"pudding" rounds), and the other 11 in houses at
which there was a history of his having called, but
not daily;
4. Taking the middle of Church Road as a centre,
55 of the total notified cases (117), i.e., 47 per cent.,
occurred .within a radius of half-a-mile; and, taking an
area about half-a-mile square, bounded by Central
and Beulah Hills and Church and Hermitage Roads,
respectively, 28 of the total notified Croydon cases
(42), i.e., 66.6 per cent., occurred therein, this being,
practically, the area supplied with milk by regular
distributor No. 19.
What was the cause of the particular grouping of cases,
specially in the Croydon and Penge areas?
The bacteriological results obfained in connection
with the suspected distributors are instructive, and may
afford the necessary explanation, at least in part:—
The results were as follow:—
Distributors. Bacillus isolated
No. 12 b Diphtheroides (doubtful diphtheria).
No. 19 b Klebs Leeffleri itrue diphtheria) and
b diphtheroides (doubtful diphtheria).
" Odd " Man E.F b Diphtheroides (doubtful diphtheria).
The bacillus diphtheroides is regarded as a
modified and attenuated form of the true Klebs-Loeffler
diphtheria bacillus, so that regular distributor No. 19,
was an actual "carrier," and regular distributor No. 12
and "odd" man E..F. were probable "carriers" of
diphtheria germs, at least to some extent.
Regular distributor No. 9 and "odd" men S.J.A.
and W.K. proved negative to bacteriological examination,
but these negative results must be read in conjunction
with the positive result (bacillus diphtheroides) obtained
from "odd" man E. F., who might have been, in that
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