| dc.description |
The food infection outbreak, here reported, comprised 59 cases. The cause of the outbreak was the contamination of the cream (cornstarch) filling of eclairs and crumb cake. The contamination was found to have been of rodent origin. The causative bacterium was a distinct paratyphoid type, B. pestis caviae (B. typhi murium—“mutton” type), prevalent in rodents; it has also been isolated from other species. This type, only recently separated with definitenss as a distinct and prevalent paratyphoid variety, is apparently one of the commonest etiological agents of food infection in man.The B. pestis caviae (B. typhi murium—“mutton” type), B. cholerae suis and B. enteritidis are apparently the three varieties most likely to be expected in cases of food infection. One gains the impression that, had the B. pestis caviae type been recognized earlier as a distinct paratyphoid type, it might have been found to be the most common of the three varieties. |
