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Food Poisoning
Forty-one of the cases notified and twelve otherwise ascertained should
probably be regarded as part of a single outbreak due to Salmonella Bredeney.
This appeared to run through the months of September and October, 1962. On the
4th and 5th September there was what at first appeared to be a family outbreak
at a house in the north-west of the Borough. During the 4th and 5th September
the father of the family and his three children, aged 2 to 6, suffered severe
diarrhoea and abdominal pain. The most likely cause appeared to be a knuckle of
bacon purchased from the local butcher which had been kept in the refrigerator
until the next day and then eaten. The butcher's shop was investigated and
samples of meat taken, but examination of staff was not insisted on at this stage.
On the 9th September, however, a Metropolitan policeman who lived about four
streets away began to suffer nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting and malaise. By the 16th
September his symptoms had become extremely severe and his temperature was 104°F
and the doctor was called in. He notified the case as one of suspected food
poisoning. It was found that the other members of the family apart from the
policeman's wife had suffered the same symptons although not so severely. The
food eaten on the 8th September included ham from the butcher who had supplied the
first family. Further meat samples were taken and found to be negative but faeces
specimens were taken from the butcher and his staff and he and ten others were
found to be infected. Four other families developed symptons and were found to be
infected and in all 19 members of six families appeared to have been directly
infected as a result of purchasing meat from this butcher. Food handling standards
at the premises were so good, however, that it still seemed possible that staff
might have been infected from the meat rather than the reverse. Dr. Galbraith of
the Public Health Laboratory Service investigated the butcher's wholesale suppliers
without result, but eventually found that ham he had purchased previous to the first
case had been cooked for him by a firm in St. John Street, Clerkenwell. This firm
was investigated and 2 of the six staff were found to be excretors of Salmonella
Bredeney. The bacterium was also found in samples of cooked and raw meats.
On the 23rd September a Greek lady working in a cafe in Hertford Road,
Edmonton, reported to her doctor complaining of fullness of the stomach. A
specimen of faeces showed Salmonella Bredeney. Eight other workers of this cafe
and a cafe in the same ownership in the Edmonton Covered Market were found to be
infected. All had eaten on the 6th or 7th September ham supplied by a wholesaler
who had obtained it from the Clerkenwell firm. On the 12th and 13th October, two
children living not far from the Covered Market fell ill with abdominal pains and
headaches and nausea and were found to be Salmonella Bredeney excretors and on the
15th October a boy of 9 fell ill with vomiting and headaches and was also found to
be Salmonella Bredeney excretor.
The Medical Officer of Health of Finsbury sent me a list of the firms in
Edmonton supplied by the infected wholesaler as soon as the matter came to his
notice and these were all thoroughly investigated. One of these was found to be
selling infected ham and the retailer himself was also found to be infected. He
had, in fact, had symptons although he had not, as he should have done, notified me
of this.
Since the end of October there have been no cases of Salmonella Bredeney food
poisoning in the Borough of Edmonton.
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