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tions at present apply). The diseases made notifiable by the 1968
Regulations and the provisions of the public health enactments
to be applied thereto are set out in Schedule 2.
(f) The powers of a medical officer of a district to vaccinate
contacts of persons suffering from smallpox have been extended to
other diseases.
(g) All documents relating to notifications are to be treated as
confidential.
(h) The powers of a local authority to require a person to stop
work, in order to prevent spread of infection, are extended to
permit action in cases of food poisoning.
The Regulations specify measures which may be taken by a
local authority in relation to typhus and relapsing fever (Schedule
4) and in relation to food poisoning and to typhoid, paratyphoid
and other salmonella infections, amoebic and bacillary dysentery,
and staphylococcal infections likely to cause food poisoning
(Schedule 5).
As provided in both schedules, the Council authorised the
medical officer of health generally to issue any notice on its behalf
under either of these schedules in relation to any particular case
if in his opinion it is immediately and urgently necessary for him
to do so for the purpose of preventing the spread of infection.
The Public Health (Fees for Notifications of Infectious Disease)
Order, 1968
By this Order under Section 50 of the Health Services and Public
Health Act, 1968, the notification fee is increased to 5s. Od. from
1st October, 1968. This fee for each notification certificate received
applies to medical practitioners other than those serving in the
forces to whom, as previously, no fee is payable.
The Public Health (Ships) (Amendment) Regulations, 1968
These Regulations came into operation on 15th October, 1968,
and extend the definition of "ship" in the Public Health (Ships)
Regulations, 1966, to include hover vehicles, to which those Regulations
will accordingly now apply.
The total number of Infectious Diseases notified was 829. However,
2 cases were not confirmed thus giving a corrected figure of
827 compared with 2,888 for the year 1967. This decrease of 2,061
is almost entirely accounted for by the biennial fluctuation in
measles notifications.
Particulars of age groups, by sex and districts, are shown in the
table given in the Appendix.