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The great increase in interchange of populations and the speed with which air
travel enables this to take place has increased the need for control of infectious disease
and at the same time adds to the difficulty of accomplishing this.
ANTHRAX
This is a disease sometimes contracted by those who work with animals and
animal products. During the year, the Ministry of Health drew attention to the
value of vaccination against anthrax for workers exposed to special risks of contracting
the disease. The workers mainly concerned are those in establishments such as
tanneries, glue, gelatine, soap, and bone-meal factories, and woollen mills who
regularly handle certain raw materials. Investigation revealed that there were no
factories within the Borough where such workers were employed but, nevertheless,
action was taken to advise local general practitioners of the desirability of anthrax
vaccination in certain cases and the facilities available.
DIPHTHERIA
No cases occurred during the year. It was, however, necessary to take action
in respect of a possible contact of the disease, a traveller from Pakistan who arrived
here on business and was notified to us as having been in contact with a colleague
suspected of having diphtheria. Arrangements were made for him to be restricted
to his home and for laboratory tests to be carried out. The results of these were
negative.
DYSENTERY
This is a disease which usually betokens faulty personal hygiene. Fortunately,
there was no major outbreak, but the notification of 235 isolated cases is higher
than one would wish.
Three persons in food premises within the Borough, who were contacts of Sonne
dysentery, were excluded from work until laboratory tests had shown them to be
free from infection. Compensation was paid by the Council for loss of earnings.
ERYSIPELAS
Eleven persons were notified as suffering from this infectious skin condition.
FOOD POISONING
Twenty-seven cases of food poisoning were notified during the year, of which only
three were confirmed by bacteriological examination. In all of these three cases
the organism was salmonella typhimurium.
Although the number of cases is small there is no ground for complacency since
it seems likely that this illness is much more widespread than the notification figures
would suggest. Many cases, I suspect, remain unrecognised, the symptoms being
of a mild nature and not leading the person involved to seek medical advice.
A one-year-old child was discovered to be a carrier of salmonella typhimurium.
She was kept under surveillance over a period of four months until tests showed she
was free from infection.
An account will later be given of the Borough's Clean Food campaign, and it is
here I am confident that the solution to the problem of food poisoning lies.
INFECTIOUS HEPATITIS
This disease became notifiable in the former Borough of Southall on the 1st October,
1964, following the occurrence of a considerable number of cases in the district
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