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The remaining case was a man who had returned from a holiday in
Istanbul. He developed symptoms of dysentery and was found to be
infected with Shigella flexneri. There was no spread of infection and
the patient made a good recovery.
Food Poisoning.
Seven cases were notified, five being due to Salmonella organisms,
and in the others the cause was not established. A young man was
found to be suffering from infection by Salmonella paratyphi which
he had presumably contracted in Malta. There was no spread of the
disease and he made a good recovery. Isolated cases also occurred due
to Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella newport, Salmonella typhimurium
and Salmonella anatum.
Apart from the above, the following occurrences are of some
public interest:—
A woman purchased a small tin of Scotch Broth and on the same
day noticed that there was a peculiar smell when she opened it.
However, she heated and consumed it at lunch-time. Within half an
hour she was vomiting violently and this continued throughout the rest
of the day. She had recovered by the following morning. All bacteriological
investigations proved negative and the remaining stock of
Scotch Broth was declared fit.
It seems probable that the tin purchased was defective and that
chemical changes had taken place in the broth. Anyone consuming
tinned food which smells or appears to be unfit runs a risk of acute
food poisoning.
Another small outbreak of food poisoning was due to the coiv
sumption of oysters. Early in the year the Health Department was
notified that seven people who had consumed a batch of 50 oysters
had all been taken ill with symptoms of food poisoning.
Subsequently, it appeared that similar outbreaks had occurred in
two other districts and that, in each case, the oysters had come from
the same bed. The bed in question was not the usual one, but was a
bed of lower salinity higher up the river. This had not been taken
into account in London and so the purification process was less
effective.
Bacteriological examination of specimens from the patients were
all negative so that the nature of the infecting organism was not
established.
IMMUNISATION AND VACCINATION
This work is organized from the Divisional Health Office, Sheen
Road, Richmond, and is carried out at the Clinics and in the Schools.