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114
On the 25th November notification was received that a male, aged 28,
residing in the Wandsworth district, who had eaten mussels supplied to a
local dealer by a salesman in Billingsgate Market, was suffering from enteric
fever, the first symptoms of the disease being observed on the 10th November.
•
In this instance the mussels had been procured from South Devonshire.
A sample from this source was obtained, and sent to Dr. Klein for examination,
-who reported as follows:—
“7th December, 1908.
“lie Mussels No. 2. Received November 30th.—They were analysed with a
“view to detecting microbes belonging to the Gaertner typhoid group.
“The bodies of 12 mussels were finely minced in a sterile dish ; the fluid
“resulting from the 12 bodies amounted to about 18 c.c. In all instances the
“fluid was turbid, and was used in amounts of 1/10 c.c. for each of two large plates
“with Drigalski-Conradi medium and for each cf two tubes of Malachite green bile
“salt broth. The result of these cultures and numerous sub-cultures was as
“follows:—
“Fifteen B. coli per mussel.
“No B. Gaertner. No B. typhosus.”
Upon enquiry it was found that the mussels in this case came from
Lympston, South Devonshire, situated in the estuary of the River Exe.
This place had been under the supervision of the Fishmongers' Company, and
arrangements made for mussels to be gathered from an approved shoal, and
no longer taken from a particular place, as in former times, that was considered
an undesirable source of supply.
As it was evident from Dr. Klein's Report that these instructions had been
disregarded, strict instructions were given that in no case were mussels to be
sent to market from places not approved by the Fishmongers' Company.
I had occasion, in 1903, to direct attention to the danger incurred in the
consumption of mussels derived from polluted sources. In the course of that
year, out of 11 samples taken in Billingsgate Market and neighbourhood, no
less than 10 were found to be sewage contaminated. Seven of the polluted
samples having been imported from Holland, the Fishmongers' Company
co-operated with the Netherlands Government with a view to a thorough
investigation being made of the conditions under which they were cultivated
and exported to this country. At the present time it is the custom of
the wholesale dealers in the City, who purchase shellfish from Holland, to see
that each consignment is accompanied by an official certificate issued by the
Netherlands authorities to the effect that the produce is derived from
unpolluted sources, but, in spite of these precautions, polluted samples, as
shown above, are occasionally found.