A New Serological Type of Salmonella

Abstract

The culture representing the new type to be described was obtained by one of us (S. H. W.) under rather unusual circumstances. Three fatalities occurred at intervals of 4 and 6 months among the children of one family living in Ashington, Northumberland, a coal-mining town of 30,000 population; in each case death was due to acute gastro-enteritis and supervened within 24 hours of their falling ill. On the death of the third child a bacteriological examination was made post-mortem and S. aertrycke found in abundance in the organs. The suggestion was made at the inquest that a carrier must exist in the stricken family and specimens of faeces from the surviving members were examined by S. H. W. From the mother's specimen a Salmonella was isolated agglutinating with the sera not only of S. paratyphi B, but also of S. enteritidis (Gaertner). This Salmonella, which we propose to call S. newcastle, was obviously different from the strain of S. aertrycke obtained from the fatal case, and the suggestion that the mother had been a carrier infecting her family should almost certainly be dropped; she had had no suspicious illness at any time. The probability is rather that conditions in the house and habits of the inmates were responsible for the succession of cases, though no evidence could be obtained as to possible infection of food by rodents, or consumption of food likely to be specifically infected; the sanitation was of poor quality (privy midden).