View report page

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, Membranous
Croup, Meningococcal Infection (C.S.M.), Ophthalmia Neonatorum, Pneumonia
Acute Primary, Pneumonia Acute Influenzal, Poliomyelitis, Polioencephalitis,
Plague, Puerperal Pyrexia, Relapsing Fever, Scabies, Scarlet Fever (or Scarlatina),
Smallpox, Tuberculosis (all forms), Typhoid Fever (including Paratyphoid), Typhus
Fever, Whooping Cough and Zymotic Enteritis.
Infectious diseases notified to the Department are visited by the Sanitary
Inspectors at the earliest opportunity and disinfection is carried out wherever
applicable. Where the patient is nursed at home, Sanitary Inspectors visit to see
that home isolation is carried out satisfactorily, and at the end of the infectious
period the bedding, etc. belonging to the patient is removed for treatment at the
Disinfecting Station and the rooms sealed and fumigated.
Food Poisoning.
During the year there were four small outbreaks of food poisoning in the
Borough, of which three were of undiscovered cause.
In one small outbreak a box of chocolates was thought to be the cause of the
trouble. Three members of the family who had eaten from the box of chocolates
on the Sunday evening became ill during the early hours of Monday morning. The
source of supply of these chocolates was investigated but no cause found. A local
retailer of this particular brand ceased his sale for the time being.
In another case where four members of the family were ill it was found that
the father had probably introduced the disease as a carrier. Salmonella organisms
were isolated in the case of two of the children, aged two years and nine months
respectively, who became ill on the 14th of the month, and another child became ill
ten days later and was removed to hospital. It was not possible to trace the suspected
food. The parents were not ill.
Another small outbreak concerned three members of the Armed Forces stationed
locally, who were taken ill after dining in the same mess. All three had complained
of abdominal pains. The suspected source of infection was pork pies. The remainder
of the food in question had been destroyed. The three patients were removed to
hospital.
Malaria. Four of the six notified cases of Malaria concerned members of the Armed
Forces who had recently returned from abroad. One case was later diagnosed as
Tonsilitis.
Puerperal Pyrexia.
Altogether 94 cases were notified during the year, of which 21 concerned mothers
whose homes were outside the Woolwich area who had been confined in hospitals in
Woolwich. Only three of the notified cases had had home confinements.
37