London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of London 1903
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]
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| No. of Sample. | Date when procured. | Whence procured. | Source of origin. | Dr. Klein's Report. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8a | 1903. 17th Dec. | Monument Street | Whitstable, " Gann's Princesses." | Five of eight contained bacillus coli communis in numbers. The three others had some other kind of bacillus coli. |
| 9a | Do. | Do. | Small Dutch from Yerseke. | Two of eight contained bacillus coli communis in numbers. Three others contained some other kind of bacillus coli. |
| 10a | 18th Dec. | Billingsgate | Dutch oysters from Bruinisse. Taken on delivery from barrel marked "Z." | Of eight oysters two contained bacillus coli communis in numbers. One or two others have some other kind of bacillus coli. Sample is moderately polluted. |
| 11a | Do. | Billingsgate Buildings | Whitstable, "Gann's Princesses." | Of eight oysters five have bacillus coli communis in numbers. One other has some other kind of bacillus coli. Sample is decidedly polluted. |
| 12a | Do. | Do. (Sapplied to Balham Fishmonger—Implicated in case of Clara Levy. Reported from Wandsworth.) | Selected natives from Whitstable supplied by Gann. | Of eight oysters one has bacillus coli communis in numbers. Two others have some other kind of bacillus coli. Sample is slightly polluted. |
| 13a | 22nd Dec. | Lower Thames Street (Examined by order of the Lord Mayor, 22nd Dec., 1903.) | Whitstable, ''Gann's Princesses," Pollard Bed. | Of twelve oysters eight have bacillus coli communis in numbers. This proves that these oysters are decidedly sewage-polluted, to the amount of over 60 per cent., and therefore I consider them not safe for human consumption. |
MUSSELS.
In my Report last year upon Shellfish pollution, cockles and oysters only were
dealt with. This year my attention has been called to mussels, as on the 7th
October last a case of Enteric Fever was notified from Paddington as having
in all probability been caused by mussels sold in Billingsgate Market.
Upon enquiry it was found that these mussels came from Hadleigh Ray,
and had been purchased from a dealer at Leigh-on-Sea, which laying had been
known for some time past to be sewage-polluted to a serious extent.
On the 10th October, two samples of mussels were purchased in the City,
one of Dutch mussels from Brouwershaven, South Holland, and the other, taken
from Hadleigh Ray, from a shellfish dealer in Monument Street. Bacteriological
examination of these showed that both were seriously polluted with sewage.
These facts were brought to the notice of the Fishmongers' Company.