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44
Food Poisoning
There were 18 notified cases, of which 16 were admitted to hospital. The causal organism
was identified in 11 cases as follows:-
9 cases of Salmonella Typhi murium
1 case of Salmonella newport
1 case of Salmonella bovis morbificans
The cases were sporadic and scattered throughout the last three quarters of the year. One
case of Salmonella typhi murium proved fatal, where the patient was an 82 year old woman.
In no case was it possible to identify the food giving rise to the illness.
Dysentery
A total of 251 cases of sonne dysentery were notified, compared with 49 in the previous
year. 26 cases were admitted to hospital.
The increase was probably attributable to two causes.
(i) the prolonged warmer summer being responsible for a greater prevalence of flies, which
can carry the disease and (ii) an outbreak at a school which resulted in the diagnosis and
notification of many cases which might otherwisehave been missed. The disease is generally
of a very mild type so that often the patient does not consult a doctor and the case remains
unnotified but at times of an outbreak specimens are collected from many school contacts with
symptoms, with a consequent increase in the number of diagnosed cases.
It has been the practice to exclude all notified cases from school until three consecutive
negative specimens had been obtained. However, because of the ubiquitous nature of the disease
and the number of symptomless carriers, it was found that this action had little effect in controlling
school outbreaks. For this reason it was decided to adopt a revised scheme of exclusion
from school which would reduce interference with the children's education. Experience has
shown that the chances of infection are greatest when the patient has symptoms of diarrhoea and
it was therefore decided that children suffering from dysentery should remain away from school
until 3 days after they were free from such symptoms, with a minimum period of exclusion of one
week. Contacts were not excluded if they were symptom free.
The revised scheme was put into operation during the year without any adverse effects.
Scarlet Fever
There were 122 corrected scarlet fever notifications during the year, but no deaths were
attributed to the disease. 14 cases were admitted to hospital, the diagnosis being amended in
one instance to measles. The average stay in hospital was 7½ days, which is an indication of
the mild nature of the disease.
Whooping Cough
There were only 12 notified cases during the year, the lowest figure recorded since
this disease was made notifiable in October, 1939. No deaths were attributed to the disease.
1 case was admitted to hospital for 40 days.
Measles
There were 949 notifications of measles during the year, and 15 eases were admitted to
hospital with complications. There were no deaths from this cause.