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56
stated that this was a standing privilege allowed him in
return for assistance rendered to the dairyman. The dairyman
denied having given any such authorisation. To exclude
the possibility of the milk having been infected by this
porter, his faeces and urine were bacteriologically examined,
but the result was negative.
The cases for the most part exhibited symptoms characteristic
of enteric fever of a moderately severe type; three out
of the 17 died (viz., two in 1914, and one in 1915), giving
a death-rate of 18 per cent. Several, if not all, commenced
gradually, and some were at the outset of an ambulant
character. They thus did not exhibit the sudden onset said
to be peculiar to paratyphoid.
56. Bacteriological Diagnosis. 26 samples of blood were
sent to the Lister Institute and Seamen's Hospital to be
examined for Widal's reaction. A positive result was ob-,
tained in four.
DIARRHœA OR ZYMOTIC ENTERITIS.
57. The deaths from diarrhoea and enteritis under two
years of age were 28, or 9 9 per 1,000 births, compared
with 3.65 and 17.4 in the two preceding years. The rate for
London was 27.64. The total number of deaths from these
diseases at all ages was 33. Owing to the change in nomenclature,
the diarrhoea death-rate cannot be strictly compared
with that of years previous to 1912, but the rate in 1914
was below the average of previous years.
Notification. Voluntary notification of zymotic enteritis
during July, August, and September, commenced in Woolwich