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(10)
Intestinal Infections
One case of typhoid fever was notified and admitted to hospital.
The patient contracted the infection whilst abroad on holiday and after
treatment she recovered and was discharged.
Fifteen cases of sonne dysentery were notified and investigated by
the department, 13 families being affected. The majority of the cases were
school children and I am glad to say were notified sufficiently early to
prevent extensive spread of the infection.
No case of food poisoning was returned during the year.
Intestinal infections are by no means all identifiable or notifiable.
A very considerable number of cases occur as minor troublesome illnesses
which spread from person to person and family to family. They are usually
the result of faulty personal or food hygiene, while the 'human factor' is
always advanced as an irremediable excuse for imperfection. In the whole
field of hygiene I am not convinced that standards in general are anything
like as high as they could be. There is a limit to what can be done for
the community in this respect, at some stage the point is reached when people
must regulate their own individual habits if improvement is to be achieved.