Food poisoning and salmonella infections in England and Wales, 1976–1978: An analysis of reports to the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre of the public health laboratory service

Abstract

During the three years 1976–8, 18,921 incidents of bacterial food poisoning and salmonella infection were reported to the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre. These incidents comprised at least 30,791 cases of illness, of which 23,052 (75%) were caused by salmonellas, 6542 (21%) by Clostridium perfringens and 892 (3%) by Staphylococcus aureus . More than 1000 additional cases were reported in food-borne outbreaks of other or unknown aetiology. The provisional total for 1979 was 11,881 cases, of which 9912 cases (83%) were of salmonella infection. In the 3 years under review, there were 656 general outbreaks, 179 (27%) of which were in hospitals, 147 (22%) associated with meals in cafes, restaurants or hotels and 109 (17%) in schools and other institutions. In addition, 1065 family outbreaks and 17,200 sporadic cases were reported. One hundred and thirty deaths were associated with food poisoning or salmonella infection, including two cases of Clostridium botulinum intoxication, the first to be recorded in England and Wales since 1955. In 422 outbreaks traced to a particular food 181 (43%) were associated with meat products and 176 (41%) with poultry; for the first time in these reports there were more outbreaks attributed to turkey (94) than to chicken (82).