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Food Poisoning (including Sonne Dysentery)
Twenty four cases of food poisoning and 41 cases of dysentery
were reported in 1954,as against totals of 7 and 51 respectively
during the previous year.I must again point out that these cases
represent notifications and do not fully indicate the incidence
either of food poisoning or of dysentery within the Borough.
None the less they are extremely useful for comparative purposes
as it can presumably be accepted that the factors which militate
against the complete notification of food poisoning and dysentery
do not materially alter from year to year.
It will be remembered that, in my Annual Report for 1953, I
suggested that we might put into operation a modified procedure
designed to discover the presence of carriers" without throw
ing an unnecessary burden on the Sanitary Inspectors and what
is more important, without causing undue absences from school.
This procedure was in fact, introduced during 1953 and is
working very well. Broadly speaking, the system depends on the
exclusion from school for one week of all children who have had
diarrhoea or sickness in any school where the incidence of
diarrhoea and sickness has clearly been shown to be above aver
age. This procedure might mean, of course that children are
occasionally excluded for transient reasons which have no epidemiological
significance. On the other hand, it has already
been shown that the system has reduced the absence from school
of " carriers" of Sonne dysentery or food poisoning organisms,
and causes much less upset in a family than did our previous
procedure. We have prepared special letters which are available
to all Head Teachers and which are used by teachers as and when
occasion demands As always our Head Teachers have been most co
operative, and seem to appreciate the reason for the change.
"Carriers of food poisoning or Sonne Dysentery organisms who are
food handlers are still excluded in the usual way, until the
requisite number of negative specimens has been obtained.
Altogether, this has been an extremely quiet year so far as
Sonne Dysentery is concerned. No outbreaks of any magnitude were
reported.
It will be remembered that a small outbreak of food poisoning
occurred in Wood Green just before Christmas. A special
report was submitted to the Public Health Committee at its
January meeting. This report is included as Appendix 1 of this
Report. Apart from this limited outbreak, food poisoning did not
present a serious problem during 1954. This outbreak did however
indicate the clear need for constant vigilance in regard to all
matters related to food hygiene.
Puerperal Pyrexia
No cases of puerperal pyrexia were notified during the year
and there were none in 1953. No deaths were attributable to
puerperal causes.
Having regard to the fact that, in the vast majority of
instances, puerperal pyrexia is no longer a disease which either
kills or even incapacitates, it has been claimed that notification
is no longer required. It would certainly be true to say
that most cases of puerperal pyrexia are due to such simple
causes as constipation or a common head cold occurring shortly
after childbirth. Against this, we know that there are other
causes for a rise in temperature during the puerperium, and that
these causes may be highly significant. As midwives must be
prevented at all costs from moving from one infected mother to
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