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inspected, and was found to be satisfactory both in kitchen quarters and the lavatories and bathrooms.
In investigations of this kind in well conducted establishments as is so often the case no
"remains" of food which might have been the cause of the outbreak was available for laboratory
testing.
Sonne Dysentery
In July there were outbreaks of dysentery due to Shigella sonnei in two of the Council Day
Nurseries. At one of the Nurseries 2 members of staff and 22 children were found to be infected; at
the other, 18 children were infected. In each Day Nursery those infected were excluded until free
from infection and their family contacts were also investigated; in all 19 such contacts were found
to be infected.
None of those infected was seriously ill, and the Day Nurseries continued working throughout,
though in a small number of children the carrier state persisted for several weeks.
Typhoid Fever
Five cases of typhoid fever occurred in the Borough in 1967. In the course of investigating these
cases two symptomless carriers were discovered.
The first case was an employee of the Council who became ill in December 1966. In January
1967 his infection was traced to a carrier working in a cafe where he had had a meal. This carrier
had a history of typhoid fever 18 years before during most of which time she worked as a cook in a
hotel in Africa. She was excluded from working in the food trade, and is being kept under regular
surveillance.
In April, 1967 a girl aged 3 years developed typhoid fever, and on routine testing of contacts her
elder sister was found to be a symptomless carrier. The strain of Salmonella typhi in both children
was the same, and was a type commonly found in Italy. A possible source of infection was an Italian
au-pair girl who returned home shortly before the child became ill and who has not been traced in
spite of repeated efforts by the Ministry of Health with the Italian authorities. An alternative source
was the family's Italian holiday the previous autumn.
The fourth case occurred in July when an immigrant from Bombay arrived unwell at London Airport,
and came to stay in this Borough. She was admitted the following day to hospital with her baby
daughter who happily remained unaffected.
The fifth case, a boy aged 5 years, occurred in October 1967; the infection was probably
acquired in Spain during a family holiday there in the previous month. This case illustrated how very
mild some cases of typhoid fever can be clinically, particularly in children. None of his family
showed any sign of infection.
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