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The progress made by the Public Health Laboratory Service in the detailed
classification of the various Salmonellae into separate types should help in tracing
the methods of spread of food poisoning. It is known for example that the rare
Salmonella Typhi-Murium Phage type la Var, 2 was brought to England in a certain ship
from Hong Kong in a cargo of Chinese egg albumin,, How the organism got to Hendon is
something of a mystery but some interesting possibilities were explored
EPIDEMIC VOMITING
In January, 1959, there was an outbreak of epidemic vomiting at Wooderoft Junior
School and at Wooderoft Girls Secondary Modern School. The outbreak was first
noticed when the children returned to school after the Christmas holiday and by
some parents was attributed to the effects of the holiday Typical illness consisted
of acute abdominal pain followed an hour or so later by vomiting and a temperature
the same evening. The following day diarrhoea often occurred and two or three days
later the child developed a cough
The children were noticeably pale, and in many instances nausea persisted for a
week or more. No definite organism was found although several throat and stool
swabs were examined for viruses by the Public Health Laboratory service,
Paratyphoid Fever
One case of this disease was notified. The patient was employed in a laboratory
where research on this disease takes place.
Diphtheria
No case of diphtheria was notified during the year,
The following table shows the number of cases and the deaths from diphtheria
since immunisation was introduced on a large scale in 1935
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