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Visits are made by Inspectors. In some cases reports have to be
sought out from the local hospital which has made the bacteriological
diagnosis; in others, reports are obtained from the Public Health
Laboratory Service.
In November, an employee working at a local Bakery (but living
outside the Borough) was found to be a contact at home with cases of
a salmonella infection. He was excluded from his employment with a
view to preventing the spread of the disease, under powers contained in
a local Act. A few days later, he was reported a carrier of the disease
and thereby came to be excluded under the Public Health (Infectious
Disease) Regulations 1953. He was allowed to return to work when
four negative specimens had been obtained.
In December, two persons in the borough were reported to be
suffering from food poisoning which they thought might have been due
to eating mussels bought in a neighbouring borough, to which the
incident was reported. Mussels were investigated in this borough and
though faecal coliforms were isolated in two out of 10 mussels, no
salmonella organisms were isolated.
Returns are made to the Ministry which must provide valuable
information on the distribution of causes of food poisoning, and apart
from anything else, the investigations control to some extent the
possible development of human carriers of the disease.
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