Dr. H. Timbrell Bulstrode's report to the Local Government Board upon alleged oyster-home enteric fever and other illness following the mayoral banquets at Winchester and Southampton, and upon enteric fever occurring simultaneously elsewhere and also ascribed to oysters.

  • Bulstrode, H. Timbrell.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. H. Timbrell Bulstrode's report to the Local Government Board upon alleged oyster-home enteric fever and other illness following the mayoral banquets at Winchester and Southampton, and upon enteric fever occurring simultaneously elsewhere and also ascribed to oysters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    20/54 (page 18)
    in either case would be superfluous. This attitude I adopted because I considered that if this outbreak of enteric fever had been caused by the Emsworth oysters, the science of epidemiology should be competent to demon- strate the tact. How far I have—with the hearty co-operation and assistance of Dr. Fraser, Dr. Langdon, Dr. Lauder, Dr. Lockhart Stephens, and others— been able to afford such demonstration may be judged of from this report. Moreover, I had recently seen a bacteriological analysis of alleged Emsworth oysters in which it was stated that such oysters were free from sewage con- tamination, and the experience which I gained in my enquiry in 1895 had gone far to show me that, at any rate at that date, negative results might be yielded by particular samples taken from situations obviously liable to contamination by sewage. It is, moreover, not unusual for a sample of water to be taken at the mouth of an estuary, on the top of the hood, and, if this sample is regarded as satis- factory by the bacteriologist, the certificate relating thereto is utilised to cover all parts of the fishery. Clearly, regard should be had to the state of tide, as also to other parts of the fishery from which no samples have been taken. In a word, negative bacteriological evidence may be highly misleading, and, as regards positive evidence, it is desirable that there should be some agreement among bacteriologists as to the precise significance, both as regards presence and number, of 13. coli communis and B. enteritidis sporogenes before a bacterial standard can be applied either with safety to the consumer or justice to the oyster industry. It may, however, be added that, as a matter of fact, specimens of water and oysters from the Emsworth ponds were examined by Dr. Klein, which, in December, 1902, were found to contain bacteria of sewage origin in abundance, albeit the enteric fever bacillus was not discovered by him in these oysters. In concluding this report I wish to place on record my indebtedness to a number of persons who have afforded me assistance in connection with this enquiry. In connection with Winchester, my thanks are due to the Mayor (J. A. Fort. Esq.), the Town Clerk, and Dr. Langdon (the Medical Officer of Health), for their cordial co-operation during the enquiry, as also to all those medical gentlemen who were good enough to afford me information as to cases under their care. As regards Southampton, I have received very great assistance from Dr. Lauder, the Medical Officer of Health, who took especial pains to furnish me with the numerous details necessary for this report, and I have also to thank the Town Clerk for his co-operation, as well as all those medical practitioners who gave me information as to their cases. With respect to Portsmouth and Emsworth I have to acknowledge with gratitude the assistance of Dr. Mearns Fraser and Dr. Lockhart Stephens, as also, at the former place, that of Alderman Emanuel, J.P. I also received assistance from the oyster merchants at Emsworth, and from others whose names space will not allow me to mention, but who will, I trust, accept this acknowledgment of the help they rendered me. H. TIMBRELL BULSTRODE. Note on the Storage oe Oysters in Shops. I think that it may not be altogether out of place if I here draw attention to the importance, from the point of view of the public health, of greater care being exercised in the storage of oysters. Although it is unlikely that oysters stored in shops should become specifically polluted by the excreta of enteric fever it is in my view probable—-albeit I am satisfied that no such influence