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26
from Singapore had visited the out-patients' department of a hospital where he had been diagnosed
as suffering from modified smallpox. Some twelve contacts were stated to have proceeded to addresses
in this Borough.
The necessary enquiries were made immediately and vaccination of all primary contacts was carried
out, for the most part at a special clinic set up at Westminster. Vaccination was also offered to all
known secondary contacts. The primary contacts were kept under daily surveillance and fortunately
no other cases of the disease developed.
Anthrax.
On 2nd May, the Middlesex Hospital reported that an out-patient appeared to be suffering from
Anthrax. The diagnosis was subsequently confirmed, and the Medical Officer of Health of Wood Green,
where the patient lived, was informed.
Later it was established that the patient was employed at an address in this borough and investigations
there showed that as the secretary of a staff horticultural society he handled bonemeal for use
as fertilizer. Examination of samples of the bonemeal revealed that certain bags which had come
originally from Pakistan were infected with Anthrax. The whole of remaining stock was collected
and destroyed and advice was given as to precautionary measures to be taken by members of the
horticultural society who had already received allocations of the bonemeal. No further cases developed.
Tuberculosis.
Table 25, page 39, gives information regarding primary notifications of pulmonary and non-pulmonary
tuberculosis received during the year. Table 26, page 40, shows the age and sex distribution of new
cases and of deaths from all forms of the disease, and Table 27, page 40, sets out the number of cases
on the Tuberculosis Register at the beginning and end of the year with details of the adjustments
made in respect of new cases, transfers, deaths inwards and outwards and removals due to cases cured
and deceased.
Enquiries into housing and sanitary conditions involved 150 visits by one of the women public
health inspectors to all new cases and those moving into the Borough from other areas.
Food Poisoning.
Ten cases of food poisoning were notified during the year. Seven of these were single unrelated
incidents, whilst the other three involved members of one family. Of the former, the agents identified
as causing illness were, in one case salmonella infantis, in two salmonella typhi murium and in a fourth
an unspecified toxin. The causes of the other three single cases were not traced. The family outbreak
involved a father and two children, one whom first became ill and was removed to hospital where
salmonella typhi murium was isolated as the responsible organism. Routine testing showed the
presence of the same organism in the stools of the father and the other child, though they were both
quite symptomless. The source of the infection was not discovered.
Impetigo.
No cases of impetigo were referred to the Cleansing Station for treatment during the year.
Scabies.
The Council's Cleansing Station in Lisson Grove dealt with 38 cases of scabies : adults 23 (men 12,
women 11); children 15 (boys 6, girls 9).
Disinfection.
During the year, 65 rooms, 948 articles of bedding (mattresses, blankets, sheets, bolsters, pillows,
etc.) and 214 books, were disinfected.
The department continued to be asked by residents to certify that clothing intended for despatch
to foreign countries, mainly in central and eastern Europe, was free from infection. Disinfection
was carried out only when the articles concerned had actually been in contact with infectious disease.
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, 178 certificates relating to a total of 2,485 articles,
were issued.