London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hackney 1956
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney]
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ice-cream or substance intended for use in the manufacture of ice-cream
is likely to cause any disease communicable to human beings, he may give
notice to the person in charge thereof that until further notice, the
ice-cream or substance in question is not to be used for human consumption,
No action was taken under this section during the year.
SECTION 24 (Sale of horseflesh)„ No person shall sell, or offer or
expose for sale, or have in his possession for the purpose of sale, any
horseflesh for human consumption elsewhere than in premises, or in a
stalls vehicle or place, over or on which a notice in legible letters
stating that horseflesh is sold there is displayed in a conspicuous
position. No person shall supply horseflesh for human consumption to a
purchaser who has not asked to be supplied with horseflesh.
SECTION 26 (Cases of food poisoning to be notified). This section
provides that a registered medical practitioner on becoming aware or
suspecting that a patient whom he is attending is suffering from food
poisoning, shall forthwith notify same to the Medical Officer of Health
of the district During the year 38 cases were notified, and in all
but six of these, the diagnosis was subsequently confirmed -
(a) Outbreaks due to identified agents Of the five small
outbreaks three involved two members of a family, and two
involved three members, making a total of twelve cases.
Salmonella Typhimurium was the responsible organism in two of
the outbreaks and the other three were caused respectively by
Staphylococcus Aureus, Salmonella Thompson and Salmonella
Enteriditis.
(b) No outbreaks of undiscovered causes were reported.
(c) Single cases In eighteen individual cases the causative
organism was identified.
(d) There were two individual cases where the causative organism
was not isolated.
Details of the positive bacteriological findings and age groups of the 30 persons involved are as follows:-
| All ages | Under 1 year | 1-2 years | 2-3 years | 3-4 years | 4-5 years | 5-10 years | 10 - 15 years | 15 - 20 years | 20 - 35 years | 35 - 45 years | 45 - 65 years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salmonella Typhimurium | 20 | 2 | - | 2 | - | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| Salmonella Newport | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - |
| Salmonella Thompson | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | l | - | 1 | - |
| Salmonella Enteriditis | 3 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - |
| Salmonella Derby | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Staphylococcus Aureus | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - |
| Totals | 30 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
In one of the small outbreaks involving two members of a family
(husband and wife), pressed beef was suspected as the source of infection.
Part of the original purchase and a sample of the consignment
both produced a growth of staphylococcus aureus The organism was not
isolated from faecal specimens of the affected couple but the description