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cough, 11 cases against 2 in 1962, and in puerperal pyrexia, with 22 cases against 8 the previous
year. Two cases of typhoid were reported, the first since 1958, but there was no poliomyletis and
again no diphtheria. Table 19, page 37, gives details of notifications and the age groups concerned.
Tuberculosis.
Table 19, page 37, gives information regarding primary notifications of pulmonary and non-pulmonary
tuberculosis received during the year. Table 20, page 38, shows the age and sex distribution of new
cases and of deaths from all forms of the disease, and Table 21, page 38, 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 rcspect of new cases, transfers, deaths inwards and outwards and removals due to cases cured
and deceased.
Enquiries into housing and sanitary conditions involved 104 visits by one of the women public
health inspectors to all new cases and those moving into the Borough from other areas.
Typhoid Fever.
(a) The two cases of typhoid fever notified during the year under review occurred in a man of
30 and a woman of 58. The first was a visitor from the Middle East and the disease had been contracted
abroad, whilst the other was an instance of isolated infection, the source of which could not be traced.
No other cases developed.
(b) Zermatt Outbreak.—This outbreak, which received wide publicity, commenced in February and
developed into a major episode. In all, 69 cases resulted in England and Wales and although none
was reported in this area, 27 contacts were kept under surveillance. A letter was sent to all general
medical practitioners in the Borough, giving them special information supplied by the Ministry of
Health about the outbreak.
Food Poisoning.
During the year, twelve notifications were received and four of these concerned instances where
more than one member of the same family was involved. In one other case persons other than the
patient notified were found to be also suffering from the illness, although they were not of the same
family. The remaining seven notifications were all of single cases. Particulars of these food poisoning
outbreaks and of the causative agents, where identified, are given in Table 22, page 38 and Table 23,
page 39.
Impetigo.
No cases of impetigo wire referred to the Cleansing Station for treatment daring the year.
Scabies.
The Council's Cleansing Station in Lisson Grove dealt with 46 cases of scabies : adults 22 (men 11,
women 11) ; children 24 (boys 13, girls 11).
Disinfection.
During the year, 51 rooms, 749 articles of bedding (mattresses, blankets, sheets, bolsters, pillows,
etc.) and 342 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, 146 certificates relating to a total of 1,685 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 three certificates were issued in this connection.