View report page

being served a day later. (Fairly conclusive evidence was produced
subsequently by similar joints being treated in exactly the
same way as those causing the outbreak and being shewn to yield
very heavy growths of CI. Welchii).
These two major outbreaks illustrate vividly the risk which is
taken when meat, and particularly large joints, is allowed to cool
slowly in an improperly ventilated room overnight and reheated
before being served. The warm moist conditions encourage the
multiplication of any organism in the food. If it is essential to
cook the previous day, cooling should be expedited and the food
stored, if possible, in a refrigerator. Cooking immediately before
serving is, however, greatly to be preferred.
ACUTE ENCEPHALITIS.
One adult resident unfortunately died of this disease in April
in a General Hospital to which he had been admitted as possibly
suffering from pneumonia. It was impracticable to trace the
source of the infection which appeared to be limited to this solitary
case.
POLIOMYELITIS.
This disease was less prevalent nationally and locally. Only
1 case was notified as a paralytic one, but the infection was slight
and all symptoms soon cleared up. It was not considered necessary
for the adult concerned to be admitted to hospital.
On seven occasions individual residents or groups who had
been in contact with recognised cases elsewhere were kept under
supervision, but none developed the disease. The "Summer" of
1954 was generally considered to have been a wet one and this
doubtless assisted in preventing the spread of this disease.
PNEUMONIA.
During the year 20 cases of acute primary or influenzal pneumonia
were notified, compared with 44, 21 and 51 in the three
preceding years. The cases occurred fairly uniformly throughout
the year and only 2 of the cases appeared to be interconnected.
Six of the cases were notified by one general practitioner and the
remainder by seven other doctors. So far as is known only 8
of these cases were admitted to hospital and no deaths occurred
among these notified cases.
MEASLES.
This disease is usually prevalent in alternate years and it was,
therefore, expected that there would be fewer cases in 1954. What
was surprising was that only 9 cases were notified compared with
1,319, 170 and 810 in the three preceding years.
18