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Glass in Milk.
The Council instituted legal proceedings, as a result of a complaint by the
Headmaster of a boys' school in the Borough of the presence of glass chippings in
two one-third pint bottles of milk supplied by one of the large distributing firms
in the Borough. The defendant firm was fined £5 and 2 guineas costs.
Dirt in Milk.
In another case, the Council instituted proceedings against a dairy company
for a contravention of the Milk and Dairies Regulations (dirt in a milk bottle).
The summons was subsequently withdrawn for technical reasons.
Metal in Date Slice.
Proceedings were also instituted against a firm of bakers for selling food intended
for but unfit for human consumption. The complaint related to a piece
of metal in a date-slice. In this case the firm obtained an absolute discharge, with
payment of 5 guineas costs.
PREVALENCE AND CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS
DISEASE
The following diseases are notifiable in the Borough: Anthrax, Cholera, Continued
Fever, Diphtheria, Dysentery, Encephalitis Lethargica, Erysipelas, Enteric
Fever, Food Poisoning, Glanders, Hydrophobia, Malaria, Measles, Membraneous
Croup, Meningococcal Infection (C.S.M.), Ophthalmia Neonatorum, Pneumonia—
Acute Primary, Pneumonia—Acute Influenzal, Poliomyelitis (Acute), Polioencephalitis
(Acute), Plague, Puerperal Pyrexia, Relapsing Fever, Scabies, Scarlet
Fever (or Scarlatina), Smallpox, Tuberculosis (all forms), Typhoid Fever (including
Paratyphoid), Typhus Fever, Whooping Cough, Zymotic Enteritis.
Although notification of an infectious disease in a house is incumbent not only
upon the medical practitioner in attendance but also upon the head of the family
or the nearest relative or person in charge of the patient; in fact, it is a rare thing
for a "lay" notification to be received. If the patient is an inmate of a hospital,
in most cases the certificate has to be sent to the Medical Officer of Health of the
district in which the usual residence of the patient is situated, but cases of malaria,
dysentery and the acute pneumonias, are always notifiable to the Medical Officer
of Health of the district in which the patient is residing at the time he is notified.
Diphtheria.
For the first time in the history of the Borough there were no known cases of
diphtheria during the year. Medical practitioners notified 17 cases but all proved
not to be diphtheria, tonsillitis or laryngitis commonly being the revised diagnoses.
Whooping Cough and Measles.
The number of notifications of measles (754) was almost half the previous
year's total. There were no deaths from whooping cough or measles.
Scabies.
The majority of the 34 cases notified were visited and treatment was given to
the patients concerned.
Scarlet Fever.
For the first time since 1941 the number of notifications of scarlet fever (185)
was below the 200 mark. Of the total number of notified cases as many as 119
or 64 per cent. were isolated at home. A comparison of this percentage with the
percentage for home isolation of this disease during the years between 1930 and
1938 shows that during those years never more than 7 per cent. of scarlet fever
cases were isolated at home.
Frequent visits are made by the district sanitary inspectors to these cases in
order to ensure that proper precautions are being taken.
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