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80
Report of the Medical Officer of Health
Of the 58 cases notified 10 were not Enteric Fever, four occurred
in H.M. Prison, leaving 44 cases in which special enquiries were made
as to the probable cause of the disease.
In eight of the cases the disease was probably contracted by
eating shell-fish, in 15 it was contracted outside the Borough
(four in Ramsgate, three in South Africa, two in Brighton, and one
each in Paris, Leeds, Bognor, Devonport, Broadstairs, and Northampton),
in one the infection was contracted from a previous case
in the same house, in three probably from watercress, while in 17
no history of infection could be ascertained.
With regard to the eight cases caused by shell-fish, two were
from oysters, three from mussels, two from winkles, and one from
cockles.
In the cases contracted outside the Borough, 15 in number,
it was impossible to ascertain the exact source of infection, but in
four of the cases it was probably from infected shell-fish, making
a total of 12 altogether in which shell-fish were suspected.
One of the cases contracted outside the Borough was infected
by a carrier case at Brighton.
Of the total number of cases, viz. :—12, infected in all
probability by eating shell-fish, two died, while in the case of
the other seven deaths no definite history of infection could be
ascertained.
Of the 10 cases which were not Enteric Fever, two were fatal,
one from Tubercular Meningitis, and the other from Peritonitis.
Cases of Mistaken Diagnosis.
In 102 cases (50 of Scarlet Fever, 42 of Diphtheria, nine of
Enteric Fever, and one of Cerebro-spinal Fever) information was
received from the Metropolitan Asylums Board's and other hospitals.
that the patients were not suffering from the disease notified or
any other notifiable disease, compared with 107 in 1910, 112 in
1909, and 110 in 1908.