Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T07:18:05.214Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Salmonellas in sewage. A study in latent human infection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

R. W. S. Harvey
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory, Institute of Preventive Medicine, The Parade, Cardiff
T. H. Price
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory, Institute of Preventive Medicine, The Parade, Cardiff
D. W. Foster
Affiliation:
Medical Officer of Health, Pontypridd Urban District Council
W. C. Griffiths
Affiliation:
Public Health Inspector, Pontypridd Urban District Council
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In a residential estate of 4000 persons, containing neither industry nor retail butchers shops, salmonellas were regularly found in the sewerage system. They were frequently found in the sewage of a portion of the estate housing 1000 persons. The range of serotypes found was wide and some types suggested an exotic origin. No overt salmonella infection in the estate was reported during the period of survey, although local general practitioners had been previously alerted. Overt infection due to serotypes found in the survey were, however, reported in other areas of Glamorgan. Multiple sampling points in the sewerage system and a serological technique for examining samples contaminated with multiple salmonella serotypes were essential for the technical success of the survey.

We should like to thank Prof. Scott Thomson for his advice in the preparation of this paper; Dr E. S. Anderson of the Central Enteric Reference Laboratory and Bureau, Colindale, for phage-typing the strains of S. typhimurium and S. paratyphi B; and Dr G. J. G. King of the Public Health Laboratory, Bournemouth, for identifying the serotypes isolated. We should also like to thank Mr T. R. Liddington and Mr J. H. Price for their technical assistance.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

References

Harvey, R. W. S. (1956). Choice of a selective medium for the routine isolation of members of the salmonella group. Mon. Bull. Minist. Hlth 15, 118.Google ScholarPubMed
Harvey, R. W. S. (1957). The epidemiological significance of sewage bacteriology. Br. J. clin. Pract. 11, 751.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvey, R. W. S. (1965). A study of the factors governing the isolation of salmonellae from infected materials and the application of improved techniques to epidemiological problems. M.D. Thesis, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Harvey, R. W. S. & Phillips, W. P. (1955). Survival of Salmonella paratyphi B in sewers: its significance in investigation of paratyphoid outbreaks. Lancet ii, 137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, R. W. S. & Phillips, W. P. (1961). An environmental survey of bakehouses and abattoirs for salmonellae. J. Hyg. Camb., 59, 93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvey, R. W. S. & Price, T. H. (1967 a). The examination of samples infected with multiple serotypes. J. Hyg., Camb. 65, 423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, R. W. S. & Price, T. H. (1967b). The isolation of salmonellas from animal feeding stuffs. J. Hyg., Camb. 65, 237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, R. W. S. & Price, T. H. (1968). Elevated temperature incubation of enrichment media for the isolation of salmonellas from heavily contaminated materials. J. Hyg., Camb. 66, 377.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvey, R. W. S., Price, T. H., Bate, W. & Allen, D. R. (1963). An outbreak of food poisoning caused by Salmonella typhi-murium, phage-type 12, probably spread by infected meat. J. Hyg., Camb. 61, 419.Google Scholar
Harvey, R. W. S., Price, T. H. & Dixon, J. M. S. (1966). Salmonellas of subgenus III (Arizona) isolated from abattoirs in England and Wales. J. Hyg., Camb. 64, 271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Minor, L., Le Minor, S., Barbe, E., Colard, N. & Lerat, M.-Th. (1967). Activités du Centre francais des Salmonella de l'Institut Pasteur (5e rapport 1964–1966). Revue Hyg. Méd. soc. 15, 221.Google Scholar
Moore, B. (1948). The detection of paratyphoid carriers in towns by means of sewage examination. Mon. Bull. Minist. Hlth 7, 241.Google Scholar
Parker, M. T. (1954). Symposium on human and animal sources of gastro-intestinal infection. (a) The spread of some bowel infections from human sources. Roy. Soc. Hlth J. 74, 847.Google Scholar
Vernon, E. (1967). Food poisoning in England and Wales, 1966. Mon. Bull. Minist. Hlth 26, 235.Google ScholarPubMed