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25
Food Poisoning Outbreaks.
Details of cases of food poisoning notified during the year are given below in the form required by
the Ministry of Health :—
(a) Total number of cases notified.—117.
(b) Outbreaks due to Identified Agents.—Three, as follows :—
Cases Agent
2 B. Welchii.
2 Salmonella typhi-murium.
38 Salmonella typhi-murium.
(c) Outbreaks of Unknown Cause.—Three unrelated outbreaks of two, five and fifty-six
cases respectively.
(d) Single Cases due to Identified Agents.—Three, as follows :—
Cases Agent
2 Salmonella typhi-murium.
1 Salmonella enteritides.
(e) Single Cases of Unknown Cause.—Nine.
Impetigo.
Three cases of impetigo in children, all girls, were treated at the Cleansing Station.
Scabies.
The Council's Cleansing Station in Lisson Grove dealt with 83 cases of scabies : adults 58 (men 49,
women 9) ; children 25 (boys 16, girls 9). Eight patients were visited in their homes.
Venereal Diseases.
Continued assistance was given to the propaganda campaign for drawing public attention to the
dangers of these conditions and to the adequate facilities which exist for those in need of treatment.
Disinfection.
During the year, 197 rooms and 803 articles of bedding (mattresses, blankets, sheets, bolsters,
pillows, etc.), together with 1,165 books, were disinfected, and 392 dressing drums from a local hospital
were sterilised.
The Department continued to be asked by residents in the Borough to certify that worn clothing
intended for despatch to foreign countries was free from infection. Disinfection was carried out only
when clothing had actually been in contact with infectious disease but, during the year, 253 certificates,
relating to a total of 5,309 articles, were issued to indicate that no infectious disease had been reported
for at least one month at the premises from which the clothing was purported to have come.
Exclusion from Work of Contacts of Infectious Disease.
Both by Regulations made under the National Insurance Act, 1946, and the Public Health Infectious
Disease Regulations, 1953, persons may be excluded from work and qualify for National Health
sickness benefit if, in the opinion of the Medical Officer of Health, they are contacts or carriers of
disease and it is necessary to exclude them from work in order to prevent the spread of infection.
These regulations apply particularly to food handlers in shops and to cooks, kitchen hands and others
employed in cafes, canteens and restaurants.
During the year four such certificates were issued.
International Certificates of Vaccination and Inoculation.
At the request of the Ministry of Health, arrangements were continued for the authentication by
the Medical Officer of Health of certificates of vaccination and inoculation issued by medical
practitioners in St. Marylebone in respect of persons going abroad. During 1955, 5,090 applications
were dealt with as compared with 3,951 in 1954.