June 12, 1954

Dr. L. Me Board

Asst. Chief, Div. Sanitation
Bureau of State Services
Public Health Service
Washington 25, D.C.

Dear Dr. Board:

I would like to ask a larger favor, in return for my very small one
i@lluded to in your letter of June 29, 1951].

As I understand it, many states will still distinguish between
infec tions with Salmonella paratyphi B ("paratyphoid fever") and other
Salmonella types, e.g. S. typhimrium ("food pofsoning") for purposes
of legal certification and on the basis of bacteriological rather than
clinical diagnosis. I am not competent to judge the clinical and epi-
demiological features, though what I have been able to read suggasts
that the serotype is not a satisfactory criterion. But the results of
genetic experimentation (cf. a reprint by Edwards & myself recently
sent to you) strongly suggest the desirability of a reappraisal also,

What I should like to ask of you is information, or sources for it,
on how different states actually handle this problem, i.e., the extent
to which legal supervision and restriction of occupation depends on sero—
logical typing. I would no sooner suffer from enteric fever at the hands
of IV V XII 4:1,2 than from IV V XII b:1,2, but in this state, as I unter-
stand it, there is mech closer official attention to potential carriers
gf¥ of the latter than the former. The comment I might make on this situa-
tion is limited, however, by my lack of information on actual practice.

Yours sincerely,

o Joshua Lederberg
Associate Professor of Genetios