View report page

15
Bacteriologist reported that the" infecting' organism in the
Penge cases was of the same type as that found in Beckenham
cases 2 and 4, thus providing reasonable evidence that there
was a common source of infection. The Penge enquiries
showed that the two sources of food supply mentioned above
figured in both of their cases.
It was at this stage that the.Beckenham case 5 was
reported; and enquiries made it clear that the patient
had not eaten food from either of the two sources under
suspicion; this seemed to negative our previous
suspicions, however, further examination of this particular
patient failed to confirm the diagnosis of Typhoid Fever.
Case 5 may therefore be ignored.
Case 6 was reported 10 days later, and the same source
of supply of Fresh Fruit Salads appeared in this household's
shopping list. Investigation had therefore indicated that
the infection was conveyed by Presh Pruit or Salads from one
particular source. This was in accord with probabilities;
the potted meat in question was obtained from a firm which
has several shops in the neighbourhood: enquiries from the
firm in question showed that this potted meat was made and
packed in a Central Depot, whence it was distributed to all
of the firm's branches: had the potted meat been .responsible
for the infection, one might quite reasonably have expected
that cases would have occurred among families who had
purchased it from other branches of this firm in the
neighbourhood; but this was not the case; all the potted
meat purchased came from one particular branch.
Suspicion was therefore directed to the establishment
which sold the fruit and salads; but on the facts so far
known it could be nothing more than suspicion: to definitely
establish it, it was necessary to find, out whether there" was
a reasonable likelihood of the food being contaminated whilst
on the premises from which it was sold. The necessary
specimens were obtained from all the persons employed on the
premises, and these specimens were examined at the Regional
Laboratory of the Ministry of Health. (Similar examination
was made of the employees at the shop where the potted meat
was sold). The examination disclosed that one of the
assistants in the green-grocery business was a carrier of the
Typhoid bacillus. This assistant lived in the Urban distric
of Penge: he was promptly suspended from work until
subsequent examinations proved that he no longer carried the
infection. Beckenham Case 6 was the last case to be
reported in either Beckenham or Penge, and with the detection
of the carrier, the source of the local outbreak was
considered to have been reasonably established.
Throughout the investigations the Health Departments
of Beckenham and Penge worked in close co-operation, and
this co-operation contributed very materially to the success
achieved.