View report page

was carrying the same organisms in his nose. We therefore knew
that we were dealing with a staphylococcal type of food poisoning
presumably caused by a "carrier" who had conveyed the organisms
to the brawn.
I took immediate steps to contact the Town Clerk and to ask
him to take action under Regulation 4 of Part 3 of the Public
Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations,1953. These regulations
allow the local authority to give notice to any person who is a
food handler and who has been proved to be inaposition to spread
disease, to abstain from work until the risk of spreading infection
has passed. At the same time, I contacted the assistant's
doctor.informing him of the position and asking for his co operation.
The situation now is that the assistant is off work,
attending his own doctor. He will not be allowed to return to
work until I am satisfied that he is no longer in a position to
spread infection.
Practitioners in Wood Green were again telephoned and asked
to report any fresh cases of food poisoning to me at any time of
the day or night and over the Christmas period, and also to let
me know if they heard of any family which had purchased brawn
from the butcher s shop concerned but had not yet eaten it.
Further visits were paid to the butcher's shop to ensure that
the assistant was no longer at work, and that no other reason
seemed to exist for the spread of infection. I would again state
that the butcher in question has been most co-operative although
even after constant pressure he was never able to give us information
concerning the persons who might have purchased the
infected brawn.
Up to the moment we have heard of ten cases of food poisoning
all directly traced back to the brawn Most of the patients were
elderly all seem to have made a satisfactory recovery, with the
exception of one elderly lady who was suffering from a very severe
heart infection and had to be confined to bed for some time.
This lady was admitted to hospital and is stated to be progressing
satisfactorily.
All the ten cases reported were taken ill on Tuesday, 21st
December, 1954. There is no evidence that further cases of food
poisoning occurred after that date,It would appear reasonable
to assume that the infected brawn has now all been eaten, and
that either the other persons who consumed the brawn escaped, or
that their illness was so slight that a doctor was not called.
A detailed report will be made to the Ministry of Health on
this limited outbreak as soon as the laboratory findings are
available.In the meantime I should like to take this opportunity
of thanking the Sanitary Inspectors, who gave me unstinted help
in the investigation.lt is at least pleasing to be able to record
that we apparently discovered the cause of the poisoning within
twenty-four hours, and that no further cases would seem to have
occurred after the original cases were notified.
33