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cleanliness in the production, storage, manufacture and distribution of
food. The washing of hands after use of the W.C. is the most effective
protective measure against intestinal carriers of infection. Early notification
of cases of food poisoning is necessary so as to obtain the residue of
suspected food for bacteriological examination. No food handler should ever
be allowed to return to work without bacteriological clearance.
Dysentery. There were thirty eight cases of Dysentery in 1963,
compared with one case in 1962. All were of the Sonne type. Ten cases
occurred in an institution, ten in five families which had some connection
with a school out of the Borough, and eighteen cqses occurred in ten
unconnected incidents,
Sonne Dysentery is a highly infectious form of gastro-enteritis. The
infection is spread by faecal contamination of hands, objects, and in
particular, lavatory seats. Prevention depends on the washing of hands
after use of the W.C. and on the efficient cleansing of communal W.Cs.
in schools and public places.
It is most desirable that all cases of diarrhoea should be checked
bacteriologically, particularly in the case of school children, and is
essential in food handlers.
Typhoid and Paratyphoid Fevers. No case of Typhoid Fever was
reported. However, there were a few related cases of Paratyphoid Fever
which affected four families and gave rise to seven cases and six carriers
(symptomless excreters). The cases were associated with others in a
neighbouring district and were related to cream cakes from a bakery in
that other district which had a branch establishment in the Borough. The
tracing back of purchases to this branch establishment led to quicker
confirmation of the source. The organism responsible was Salmonella
'Taunton' and was almost certainly contained in a particular batch of
imported eggs.
Meningococcal Infection. There was one reported death from
meningococcal infection in a child of two months. There was no
bacteriological confirmation and the case was not notified.
Poliomyelitis. The year 1963 was the fifth successive year the
Borough has been free from Poliomyelitis. The reduction in the number
of cases in England and Wales reported in 1962 continued, and the figures
for 1963 were rather less than one fifth of those for 1962, and about one
eighteenth of those for 1961.
With the easy to take oral vaccine now freely available for the
priority groups, there is no reason why their protection should not attain
and maintain the one hundred per cent. mark.
During the year approximately one thousand, one hundred and twenty
one persons were vaccinated against Poliomyelitis in the following groups:-
(1) Children bom in 1963 152
(2) Children born in 1962 702
(3) Children born in 1961 82
(4) Children and young persons
barn 1943-1960 90
(5) Persons born 1932-1942 40
(6) Other priority groups 55
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