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Single cases
Twenty-one isolated cases of food poisoning were notified.
In fourteen of these, no causative agent was identified, but in the
remaining seven cases the identified agents were -
Salmonella brandenberg 1
Salmonella seftenberg 1
Salmonella typhimurium 5
INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Smallpox
Following a meeting of the Public Health Committee of the
Council of Europe which dealt with the importations of smallpox to
'excepted areas', the Minister of Health accepted the recommendations
of this committee and issued the Public Health (Aircraft)
(Amendment) Regulations 1963, amending the Public Health (Aircraft)
and (Ships) Regulations 1952 to 1961. These Regulations enable port
health officers to require the production of international certificates
of vaccination against smallpox. If a person has not a certificate
he may be offered vaccination, or may be placed under surveillance
or in isolation.
Experience has shown that travellers coming to the borough,
not holding valid certificates, refuse vaccination and prefer to be
kept under surveillance for sixteen days.
No case was notified in the borough during 1963.
The Ministry of Health's Memorandum on Vaccination against
Smallpox recommends that public health officers likely to have to
deal with cases of smallpox at short notice should be regularly revaccinated
at not more than yearly intervals. During the year 19
members of the staff of the public health department were vaccinated
or revaccinated by the Medical Officer of Health.
Scarlet Fever
The number of cases notified in 1963 was 9. There was no
fatal case during the year.
Diphtheria
No case of diphtheria was notified during the year.
Enteric Fever
During the year two cases of paratyphoid fever and five
cases of typhoid fever were notified.
The first case of paratyphoid fever was a 22-year old
female who was admitted to a general hospital with abdominal pains.
Tests were carried out and proved positive for paratyphoid fever.
Specimens submitted by home contacts proved negative. The source
of infection remained unsolved, although it was presumed that the
patient could have been a carrier.
The second case of paratyphoid fever was a 22-year old
male who was admitted to hospital. Enquiries revealed that the
patient had just returned from a holiday in Iran.