View report page

Further details of these outbreaks are as under :—
1. This outbreak occurred in connection with the nursery class of a school. The
principal symptom was sickness which began approximately 12 hours after the
suspected meal. The children were not severely ill and recovered fully within
two days.
2. The second small outbreak also occurred in connection with a school and, again,
the principal symptom was sickness, but commencing 3—4 hours after the
suspected meal. The illness was mild, and those affected were in normal health
within 48 hours.
The campaign for safer food is dealt with in the Health Publicity section of
this Report.
Dysentery
Dysentery notifications, at 1,168, showed approximately a threefold increase
over the previous year. In fact, notifications exceeded those of 1951, when 995
notifications were received—the highest number to be recorded until 1954. All
notified cases were visited by a Sanitary Inspector or Infectious Disease Visitor, and
stool specimens were examined at the Public Health Laboratory Service
Bacteriological Laboratory, County Hall, S.E.1.
The increase in dysentery cases actually began in December, 1953, when 75
cases were notified. The numbers increased in the early part of the year and reached
a maximum in March, with 242 notifications. The incidence continued high until
July, then dropped substantially, but a smaller number of notifications continued
steadily until the end of the year. A high proportion of the cases were bacteriologically
confirmed, the great majority being due to Shigella Sonne which, in general,
gives rise to the milder form of dysentery, but there were also a few cases due to
other dysenteriform organisms which might cause relatively severer attacks, such
as Flexner. There were groups of cases which occurred in association with day
nurseries, schools, and a welfare home in the Borough, but there were also
considerable numbers of individual and family cases.