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60
fever. He was also the one who went to the Isle of Wight camp. It
does not seem that he caused any infection while at that camp.
DYSENTERY
Dysentery is a complaint which is the result of an infection of the
bowel by bacteria or other forms of organisms in which the patient
usually becomes febrile and suffers from diarrhoea with the passage of
blood or mucus in the stools. There are many types of bacteria which
cause the infection in its characteristic form. On the other hand, there
are many dysenteric organisms which can infect the bowel and if they
cause any reaction at all, it is of the mildest. Infection, then, may result
in an illness of the severest clinical variety, as the disease is seen in some
parts abroad, or, on the other hand, may cause so slight a disturbance
that the patient treats the matter lightly and does not even summon a
doctor. There is probably much infection in this country, though
on nothing like the scale of the invasion of a few years ago when the
whole country seemed to be attacked by a Sonne infection. The organism
is probably introduced into the body by food or drink, including water.
Anyone excreting the organisms in the stools can readily pass on infection
to others, either by directly infecting food or by the passage of the
organisms from an infected hand to some inanimate object such as a
door-knob or tap which in turn infects the hand of the new host. As the
clinical manifestation might be so very slight, the disease often enough is
not recognised by the patient and sometimes not by the doctor summoned
to attend the patient. Very often it is only by a bacteriological examination
of the stools that it can be recognised what the patient is suffering
from. For these reasons, then, the prevalence of the infection throughout
the country is probably much greater than is indicated by the number of
notifications received. The infection is very common amongst many
of the inmates of such institutions as those which accept the mentally
subnormal.
In this last year there was a big rise in the number of notifications
received, namely, 45 as compared with 7 of 1950. 26 of these, however,
were of persons either pupils or staff at the local residential school. In
many of those notified though, the diagnosis was made as the result of
the examination of the specimens of stools submitted for analysis on the
occurrence of a few clinical cases amongst the pupils.
In only a few cases was the source of the infection even suspected.
The persons notified lived in different parts of the district and there
seemed to be no common factor in their food supply. The cases were
spaced throughout the year, no time being more especially heavily
involved and at no time was the district entirely free. Only in two
instances was there more than one sufferer in any house.
In general, the illness caused was mild. Nine of those notified
were admitted to isolation hospitals for treatment.
FOOD POISONING
Only four persons were notified last year as suffering from food
poisoning. Two of these were members of one family where the onset