§ Mr. Rhys Daviesasked the Minister of Health whether he has any statement to make on the outbreak of paratyphoid in parts of Lancashire?
Mr. M. MacDonaldDuring the first eight months of this year, 233 cases of enteric fever have been notified in Lancashire. The information received indicates that the disease is mainly paratyphoid fever. There have been a number of outbreaks, but none of them considerable. The largest numbers have been in Liverpool, Manchester, Chadderton, Farnworth and Bolton. In spite of careful investigations the exact sources of the outbreaks have not been traced, but there is little doubt that the causes of infection were articles of food contaminated either by a carrier or an ambulant person suffering from the disease. There is no evidence that infection has been conveyed by water or milk or associated with changes in population. The incidence of enteric fever in Lancashire has not been greater than in the country as a whole.