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5
It may be that the large crowds of people who visit Richmond
especially at week-ends play their part in disseminating the organisms
of these diseases or possibly the local private practitioners are
more concientious in notifying the occurrence of cases.
There were 13 cases of food poisoning including two small family
outbreaks of 4 and 5 cases respectively. Both outbreaks were due
to unsatisfactory storage of cooked meat in a warm atmosphere.
No specific organisms were found in these cases, but the growth
of non-specific organisms on the improperly stored meat was so
excessive that the two families suffered quite distressing illnesses.
The remaining four cases were isolated and unconnected and the
source of infection was never traced.
In one case the causal organism was Staphylococcus pyogenes
and in the other three Salmonella typhimurium was isolated from
the patients. One of the patients infected with Salmonella typhimurium
was so severely ill that he died ten days after the onset.
There were 10 cases of dysentry. The organism concerned was
Shigella Sonnei which is found fairly widespread throughout the
country. Four of the patients were little girls attending a local
Infants school and a fifth case was a young brother of one of these.
Although the orignal source of infection was not discovered there
is no doubt that these children infected one another while at school.
The remaining patients were quite unconnected and it was not
possible to discover the source of infection. Advice and help in
preventing the spread of infection was given and no further cases
resulted.
During the year there were five cases of poliomyelitis which
occurred at fairly widely spaced intervals and apparently were unconnected.
The age range was 6 months to 7 years—three being
school children.
Two of the children attended different classes at the same school
but a period of more than two months separated the onset of disease
in the two cases.
Two of the cases were of the non-paralytic type and they made
complete and uneventful recoveries.