[Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Hitchin R.D.C.

  • Hitchin (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1967
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Hitchin R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/68 (page 9)
    Vehicles) Regulations, 1966, and subsequent amending regulations, came into force in January 1967 largely because conditions of food handling in open-air trading had not improved following the introduction of the Food Hygiene Regulations in 1955. The 1955 Regulations and the food Hygiene (General) Regulations of i960 were less demanding in their requirements for food stores and food vehicles than for food premises and it became clear that control over open-air trading needed to be strengthened and to be brought mote closely into line with those applying to food premises under the general regulations. The new food hygiene regulations apply to any handling or trading in food in any market or market premises or away from other fixed premises and they also apply both to food delivery vehicles and to mobile food shops. The principal requirements of the 1966 food Hygiene Regulations are concerned with the cleanliness of food stalls, food delivery vehicles and equipment, the hygienic handling of food, the cleanliness of food handlers and their clothing, the actions to be taken in cases of infections liable to cause food poisoning, the storage temperatures of certain food- stuffs, the provision of water supply and washing facilities, the proper disposal of waste, the separation of food for human consumption from any food unfit for human consumption, and provisions for the granting by local authorities of certificates of exemption in appropriate cases. It is hoped that these regulations will help to improve the state of the public health. Vaccination and Immunisation The vaccination state of North Hertfordshire is not satisfactory. It is clear that smallpox would be introduced into a relatively unprotected community and the public should be aware that vaccination as an emergency measure produces little or no immediate protection. Complications are lessened by vaccination under the age of two years and parents are urged firstly to have their children vaccinated against smallpox as a matter of routine, and secondly to request such treatment before the age of two is reached. No cases of diphtheria occurred during the year. Twenty cases occurred, however, in England and Wales (1966) with five deaths, and it must be emphasised that freedom from this killing disease depends on the level of immunity of the population and diphtheria immunisation programmes must be maintained. Thirty-three cases of whooping cough occurred during 1967. The incidence of this disease fluctuates for reasons which are ill understood. Pertussis is a potentially dangerous disease in infancy and vaccination against it must not be relaxed. No cases of tetanus occurred, but so dangerous is this disease to life that no parent must allow their child to remain unprotected. Vaccination against poliomyelitis is now performed entirely by the use of Sabin oral vaccine. Three doses of vaccine by mouth are given in the first year of life, followed by a booster dose at the age of three years. There were no cases of the disease in the area in 1967 but the vaccination rate is barely satisfactory. Since the use of vaccines, deaths from poliomyelitis have been remarkably reduced. In 1966, 23 cases occurred, with one death in England and Wales. This represented the lowest incidence of mortality yet recorded. Tuberculosis Miniature mass radiography, skin testing and B.C.G. vaccination, tracing and treatment of contacts, greatly improved methods of treatment, pasteurisation of milk have all reduced the incidence of tuberculosis in this county. The disease is now almost never seen in its chronic wasting form or the acute fatal attacks which killed so many in the past. Without the introduction of particularly sus- ceptible immigrant groups, including the Irish, to this county, it would not have been impossible to eradicate the disease entirely. Cases, however, are still notified and each family must be visited, skin tested and chest x-rayed. When a case occurs in a school, either in a teacher or a pupil, in many instances the whole school must be skin tested and the teaching staff x-rayed. During 1967, 120 children in one school were screened and 72 in a play group. Both the chest x-rays and the skin tests were satisfactory and no epidemic resulted. Skin testing and B.C.G. vaccination are performed routinely in all school children, including private schools, between the ages of 11 and 13. A negative skin test, showing that the child has not received its natural unperceived infection in the community, is an indication for the giving of vaccine.