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Owing to the policy of deferring i-unisation whilst poliomyelitis
is occurring in the district, the number of children i-unised in 1955
was considerably less than in other years.
Notifications and deaths in England and Wales fell from 18,596 and
722 respectively in 1945, to 37 and 6 in 1957.
Sixty-one swabs were forwarded by general practitioners to the
Mile End Group Laboratory, where bacteriological examinations are carried
out on behalf of the Borough Council.
Dysentery.
There was an increase in the incidence of Sonne dysentery, 145 cases
being notified, compared with 34 cases last year. The occurrence of
Sonne dysentery is co-on but seldom fatal, and then only in aged persons
or debilitated children. One old lady of 70 years died from this cause
during the year.
Erysipelas.
During the year six notifications were received.
Food Poisoning.
During the year there were 69 known cases of suspected food poisoning,
all of which were notified.
In 60 cases a Salmonella organism wa.3 isolated and in nine cases the
causative organism was not discovered.
Of the 69 cases, 57 were members of the staff of a hospital. The
majority of these were young nurses, and in many Salmonella typhi-murium
phage 2C was recovered from the stools. Examinations were made of
foodstuffs in use, and a similar phage organism was obtained from one
brand of English frozen liquid egg used in the preparation of food at
the hospital. Although the outbreak was not traced to any finished article
of food, the frozen egg may have been the cause. There were no serious
cases and all made a good recovery. It should be remembered that many
cases of slight food poisoning occurring at home and in restaurants are
missed and not notified. Hospitals are more conscientious and efficient
in reporting food poisoning outbreaks, and so the hospital outbreak comes
to light whilst outbreaks occurring elsewhere are not discovered. The
twelve non-hospital cases occurred singly and appeared to have no relation
to each other. In three of these, Salmonella typhi-murium was recovered.
Kala Azar.
Notification was received during the year of the death from Kala Azar
of a Pakistani resident of the Borough. This is a parasitic disease of
Warner climates affecting the spleen and liver.
Malaria.
There were two cases of malaria notified during the year.
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