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The second outbreak, involved four residents at a Mother and
Baby Home in the Borough. In this case Clostridium welchii was
isolated from the patients' specimens and the illness was attributed
to a meal of shepherd's pie, which was allowed to cool too slowly and
was insufficiently re-heated. The illness was short-lived.
The third case concerned four members of the staff of a local
hospital who became ill after a meal at a local restaurant. Prawn
cocktail was the suspected food, but unfortunately none was available
for testing. Clostridium welchii was found in one patient, but tests
on the restaurant staff all gave negative results. In this outbreak the
illness was more severe and lasted a week in two cases.
In addition to these outbreaks there were 18 individual cases, as
listed below, involving 46 persons. Four of these were contracted
abroad.
Salmonella agona 2
Salmonella brandenburg 1
Salmonella enteritidis 2
Salmonella montevideo 1
Salmonella oranienberg 1
Salmonella panama 1
Salmonella saint paul 3
Salmonella typhimurium 6
Salmonella group B 1
Twenty-four suspected cases involving 38 persons were also investigated,
all proving negative.
TUBERCULOSIS
Chest Clinics
There are two chest clinics serving the Borough. Both are based
at Cumberland Hospital, Mitcham. At these clinics the Tuberculosis
Health Visitors assist the Chest Physicians, and help and advise the
patients. They do Mantoux tests and follow-up contacts and patients
who fail to attend. At the end of the year the case load of Tuberculosis
Health Visitors was as follows:—
Cases of tuberculosis 483
Cases of lung cancer 87
Other chest cases (bronchitis, bronchiectasis,
etc.) 68