An Outbreak of Institutional Dysentery Due to the Y. Bacillus

At the close of last year there was an outbreak of epidemic diarrhoea at the Stapleton Workhouse. It commenced about the middle of November, reached its height at the end of December, and gradually receded during the closing days of January. In all, some forty persons were attacked, of whom five died. The first case was that of a man, S., who had been working in connection with Colonial troops on Salisbury Plain. He was admitted to hospital ward on November 23rd, and had recovered sufficiently to be discharged on December 2nd. During this time one of the nurses attending him was transferred to a female ward. Five days later the inmates of the female ward showed signs of the same condition, and the whole of the patients and the ward staff were in turn infected. Four visitors to the ward suffered similarly. One of the nurses went to her home on a visit. Four days later her father and a relative were taken ill. One of the patients from the same ward entered a home in Clifton. Several days passed without remark, then four other servants