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INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Hornsey suffered no epidemic of infection during 1956 which can be
described as an uneventful year. Again no cases of diphtheria occurred
and the general incidence of other infectious diseases was as expected.
One case of paratyphoid fever was notified in October. The patient had
returned from Jordan about 14 days before admission to hospital, having
been ill in Jordan before returning to England. He was discharged from
hospital after five weeks, no other case having occurred.
ENCEPHALITIS
During the past few years improvement in technical methods have
aided in the differentiation of a number of clinically similar virus infections
of the nervous system. One patient, a man of 33 years, was notified
as poliomyelitis but later diagnosed as a case of acute encephalitis.
The Ministry of Health is interested in investigating all cases of encephalitis
with unusual symptoms, such as were shown by patients in an outbreak
at a London Hospital last year. A Medical Officer from the
Ministry visited the patient's house in company with my deputy.
POLIOMYELITIS
In 1956 eight cases of poliomyelitis were notified—five paralytic and
three non-paralytic. One was notified in the first quarter of the year,
four in the third quarter and three in the last quarter. Two of the paralytic
cases have slight residual paralysis but one, a child under school age,
has severe paralysis of the left arm and right leg.
FOOD POISONING
Thirteen cases of food poisoning were notified in 1956, three cases
were admitted to hospital, and there were no deaths. All were single
cases, 8 being caused by salmonella typhi-murium and 5 arising from
unknown causes.
Food infections are bowel infections and contaminated hands are the
major cause in the spread of food posioning. A high standard of personal
cleanliness, together with a rigid observance of the habit of washing the
hands immediately after using the toilet, could do much to reduce the
incidence of food poisoning.
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