View report page

29
Disinfection.
During the year, 59 rooms, 607 articles of bedding (mattresses, blankets, sheets, bolsters, pillows,
etc.) and 562 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, 196 certificates relating to a total of 2,266 articles,
were issued.
Exclusion from Work of Contacts or Carriers of Infectious Diseases.
With a view to preventing the spread of a notifiable infectious disease, or certain other diseases
as provided in Section 26 of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1959, if a Medical Officer
of Health for a borough requests in writing a person to discontinue his employment, the Borough
Council are empowered by the Act, to compensate such person for any loss occasioned by his compliance
with the request. Similarly, 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 they are contacts
or carriers. These provisions apply particularly to food handlers in shops, to cooks, kitchen hands
and others employed in cafes, canteens and restaurants and to persons in charge of young children.
During the year one certificate was issued in this connection.
International Certificates of Vaccination.
Travellers 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 4,520 of these certificates were authenticated.
In addition, twenty-two certificates were issued, upon request, to the effect that no cases of smallpox
had been reported in the district during the preceding two weeks. Applicants for these certificates
are usually travelling to America and do not wish to submit to vaccination but the American immigration
authorities reserve the right to place such persons under surveillance despite the production of
this certificate.
Bacteriological Examinations.
Table 26, page 41, shows the number of specimens examined for the purposes of diagnosis and also
indicates the organisms in relation to which the examinations were made.