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Food Poisoning (including Sonne Dysentery)
Fourteen cases of food poisoning and 94 cases of dysentery were
reported during 1953, as against totals of five and 17 respectively
during the previous year. I would again state that these figures
cannot he regarded as a true indication of the incidence of any type
of food poisoning within the Borough, for the reasons set out in
previous Reports.
So far as Sonne dysentery is concerned, the work carried out
by the Public Health Department in tracing and supervising contacts
and " carriers " has been reported on several occasions to the
Public Health Committee. I am not at all certain that the amount of
time involved in these operations can be fully justified. Whether we
like it or not, it must now be recognised that Sonne dysentery is indigenous
in Great Britain, being presumably here to stay. This
being so, it is extremely doubtful whether our measures of control
have any appreciable effect on its spread. This statement gains
added weight when it is remembered lhat many cases of dysentery
never come to our notice. Indeed, many cases never come to the
notice of the family doctor. We also know that Sonne dysentery is
not a serious disease, except in very young and very old. For those
reasons, I am very seriously considering a modification in our present
system of control. Broadly speaking, the changes which I hope
to suggest to the Public Health Committee and the Development
Sub-Committee during the present year should reduce the amount
of work carried out by our Sanitary Inspectors, while still allowing
us to control the attendance at school of children who are suffering
or have suffered from diarrhoea and sickness, together with those
children who are contacts and " carriers
I intend to suggest the putting into operation of our modified
procedure for a trial period, during which time the results will
be carefully scrutinised and evaluated. It will still be necessary, of
course, to control those adults who have any connection with food
handling, and whose continuance at work, either as cases or "carriers"
would represent a public health danger.
Mention might also be made of the appearance in several of
our schools of the disease commonly known as " Winter vomiting."
This disease is almost certainly a virus infection. Once again,
it has little more than nuisance value, although it can disrupt the
activities of any school in which it makes its appearance. The
control of winter vomiting follows very closely along the lines of
that laid down for Sonne dysentery. Our present procedure which
is to exclude for one week all children who have suffered from
sickness and/or diarrhoea, without too much time being taken up
in the collection of laboratory specimens, has worked well to date.
I therefore propose to continue along these lines until more information
is available.
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