[Healthy carriers of positive staphypococcal coagulase and the prevention of food poisonings in aircraft catering].

The most scrupulous respect should be paid to rules of hygiene in aircraft catering. In addition, human beings are the most dangerous vectors of food poisoning and infection. Enterotoxic staphylococci are responsible for about 75% of such cases. A year-long check was therefore made on the staff of a firm engaged in intercontinental aircraft catering. A total of 1.135 bacteriological examinations were carried out on biological specimens from the oropharyngeal cavity. 9.42% of those engaged in various food preparation processes were identified as healthy carriers of coagulase-positive staphylococcus and cleared. Comparison between the seasonal and monthly incidence figures fokr healthy carriers showed that December and January are the most dangerous months in the northern hemisphere and at European latitudes, with an average of 15% of positives. Equally dangerous is the winter season, in which diseases of the "cold" type are generally endemic.