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27
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 two certificates were issued.
International Certificates of Vaccination.
Persons travelling to most countries abroad have to produce evidence of recent vaccination against
certain prescribed diseases. For this purpose an international certificate of vaccination is used in
respect of smallpox, cholera and yellow fever. Methods of protection previously known as
"inoculation" are now described internationally as vaccination.
Under the terms of Ministry of Health circulars Nos. 60/48 and 20/52 the Medical Officer of Health
is required to authenticate the signatures on certificates issued by doctors practising within his district.
During the year, signatures on 5,785 of these certificates were authenticated.
Bacteriological Examinations.
Table 20, page 38 shows the number of specimens examined for the purposes of diagnosis and also
indicates the organisms in relation to which the examinations were made.