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by the Council to cause such persons to discontinue their
employment. It was not found necessary to take action under
the regulations during the year.
Tuberculosis Care Committee.
The Tuberculosis Care Committee, on which are represented
voluntary and official bodies, and whose meetings are
attended by the Medical Officer of Health, continues to
supply help to tuberculous persons and their relatives who
require assistance which cannot be obtained from official
sources, or where urgency or special circumstances indicate
that the voluntary sources of the Care Committee are
preferable.
Help was given during the year to 73 persons by way of
clothing, extra nourishment, provision of laundry, new spectacles,
set of leather work tools, holiday expenses, rent,
wireless licences and fares to relatives to visit patients in
sanatoria. 19 patients were referred to the National Assistance
Board and voluntary societies for help with clothing
and miscellaneous items. The annual Christmas Seal Sale Fund
amounted to £298.
Weil's Disease.
A death occurred as a result of Weil's Disease of a man
employed in the Borough but resident in another area. The
disease is characterised by acute fever accompanied by
jaundice, and is caused by a germ known as the leptospira
ictero-haemorrhagiae. It is primarily a disease of rats, and
spreads to humans by actual contact with dead rats of their
excreta or urine. The disease is therefore more common among
workers in rat-infested.environments. '
Whooping Cough.
249 cases were notified during the year, the figure for
1952 being 156. There were 3 deaths from the disease.
Infectious Disease Contacts.
Where a person is precluded from continuing at work by
reason of being a carrier or having been in contact with
ihfectious disease, benefits under the National Insurance
Act, 1948, are only paid on production of a certificate from
the Medical Officer of Health. It.was not found necessary
to issue any such certificate during the year.
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