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Smallpox
On two occasions during the year the Medical Officer
of Health was called into consultation to see suspected
cases of smallpox. Fortunately, in neither case was the
diagnosis confirmed.
A case of smallpox did occur, however, in a London
Borough in the person of a Dutch business man who arrived
in this country by air from Colombo. Seventeen contacts
of this case were Camberwell residents and all of these,
with one exception, were visited and kept under surveillance
during the period of quarantine. The exception was a man
whose address was given as the Common Lodging House, but
in the meanwhile he had left and his whereabouts were not
known. Although the police were notified, every Medical
Officer of Health in the Metropolitan area was alerted and
a careful check was kept on all common lodging houses and
reception centres in London, the contact was not traced.
Luckily, however, there were no further developments.
Anthrax
On the 1st December, 1960 the Public Health (Infectious
Diseases) Amendment Regulations, 1960, came into operation.
The effect of these is to require any medical practitioner
attending or called in to visit a patient suffering from
anthrax to send notification thereof to the Medical Officer
of Health for the District. This is in addition to the
provisions contained in the Factories Act, 1937, which
require cases of anthrax, which is primarily an industrial
disease, to be notified to the Chief Inspector of Factories,
No cases were reported during the year under review.
Bacillary Dysentery
During the past two or three years sharp outbreaks
of bacillary dysentery (Sonne) have been occurring during
the winter and spring. These outbreaks have usually occurred
among school children - which is typical of Sonne dysenterybut,
not unexpectedly, the disease was often conveyed to
adult direct contacts in the home. Food or articles contaminated
by the infected hands of a sufferer or carrier give
rise to rapid spreading of the disease. The essence of
prevention is personal cleanliness and the importance of
washing the hands after using the toilet and before handling