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44
Whooping Cough, which rose sharply from 63 to 238 cases, has
also lost much of its history as a killer and in fact of the 238 cases
only 6 were sent to hospital.
I think that the time is ripe for a comprehensive re-appraisal of
the whole question of notification of disease. Whether notification of
some diseases is really important or not—however legally it may be
demanded—the fact remains that any disease which is notified can only
be enquired into adequately if it is notified at the earliest possible moment
Food Poisoning.
In 12 out of 13 cases notified no causative organism was ascertained.
This illustrates the complexity of dealing with this matter as a precise problem.
Although certain cases may come to light late many are brought to
our notice as suspects and at a stage when full investigation is possible.
No serious outbreak was involved and the character of the disease was
one of relatively isolated attack. The fact that no organism was found
to cause the illness does not invalidate the supposition that certain of
the cases may well have been rightly considered—after investigation—as
having an origin in food.
Psittacosis.
Cases or often suspected cases of this disease are occasionally
brought to our notice as having arisen outside this District and possibly
having originated at any rate indirectly in this District.
This is a disease the control of which is highly unsatisfactory.
Partially this is due to factors which are at the moment uncontrollable
and partially it is due to factors which might be legally controlled but
at the moment are not. Two of the difficulties in tracing any particular
outbreak are, (1) the difficulty of identifying any particular bird in the
absence of appropriate markings, and (2) the fact that records in general
are not really required to be kept.
As so often happens the chief public safeguard lies in the fact that
on approach the dealers in, for example, parrots (parrots are by no
means the only spreaders of the disease which has a widespread incidence
among the bird population) are normally very willing to co-operate
with this department in avoiding trouble. It is very clear that the
interests of any Pet Dealer are best served by stamping out any illness
among his pets and in avoiding such illness arising. This in fact is
what happens. Whether in view of its relatively low incidence Psittacosis
is worth exploring as a medium for more detailed legislation is under
all the circumstances doubtful.
International Certificates of Vaccination or Inoculation.
398 certificates were stamped during the year. Although cogent
reasons may exist as to why the practice is not followed, it would
superficially seem distinctly advantageous if a supply of blank certificates
was kept at this office as is understood to be the case with Travel Agents,
etc.