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Enquiries into housing and sanitary conditions involved 98 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 case of typhoid fever notified during the year under review occurred in a man of 25 who ia
thought to have contracted the disease whilst on holiday abroad. No other cases developed.
(b) Aberdeen Outbreak.—Seventeen contacts of cases or visitors to the City of Aberdeen during the
severe outbreak of typhoid fever in late May and June were found to be residing or working in the
Borough. All were kept under surveillance during the incubation period.
Food Poisoning.
During the year, fifteen notifications were received and four of these concerned instances where
more than one member of the same family was involved. The remaining eleven notifications were all
of single cases. Particulars of these food poisoning outbreaks and of the causative agents, where
identified, are given in Table 24, page 38 and Table 25, page 39.
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 55 cases of scabies: adults 29 (men 16,
women 13); children 26 (boys 9, girls 17).
Disinfection.
During the year, 29 rooms, 785 articles of bedding (mattresses, blankets, sheets, bolsters, pillows,
etc.) and 400 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, 64 certificates, relating to a total of 875 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 two certificates were 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 6,576 of these certificates were authenticated.
In addition seventeen certificates were issued, upon request, to the effect that no cases of smallpox
had been reported in the district during the preceding three months. 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.
The Public Health (Aircraft) (Amendment) Regulations, 1963, and The Public Health (Ships)
(Amendment) Regulations, 1963, which came into force on 1st August, 1963, were made as a result