Report of the Commission of Public Health to the Minister of Public Health / Department of Public Health, Victoria.

  • Victoria. Commission of Public Health.
Date:
[1966]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Commission of Public Health to the Minister of Public Health / Department of Public Health, Victoria. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/32 (page 9)
    In 1952 this disease became notifiable in Victoria ; since that time two epidemic peaks have occurred, the first in 1955 (3,776 notifications) and again in 1963. Notwithstanding the present decline hepatitis is still a very prevalent disease responsible for considerable loss of time from the patients’ occupations and not infrequently leading to chronic ill health and on occasions, death. It is anticipated that the present decline in cases will continue until a sufficient number of susceptible persons create a reservoir for a further epidemic peak. The earlier promise of a prophylactic vaccine has not been fulfilled to date largely due to the technical difficulty of isolating the causal virus. It is of interest to record that in an era when the majority of viral agents responsible for communicable diseases have been propagated in the laboratory, hepatitis stands out as a challenge to virologists. Respiratory Virus Infections. There were no unusual features among the variety of respiratory virus infections occurring mainly in the winter of 1965. Influenza B virus was isolated from a number of patients in Fairfield Hospital. However, it was not considered that the outbreak of influenza had reached serious epidemic proportions based on hospitalization of pneumonia patients. In the autumn of 1966, Respiratory Syncitial Virus (RSV), para-influenza and to a lesser extent adeno viruses accounted for a number of hospital admissions particularly affecting infants and young children. Diphtheria. Since the outbreak in 1963 when 181 notifications (including both clinical cases and carriers) were recorded, diphtheria incidence has fallen to 27 which was the level in 1962 prior to the 1963 episode. There is little doubt that the present situation is a reflection of artificial immunization which received a marked stimulus following the 1963 outbreak. This was a salutory lesson that neglect of this effective form of prophylaxis can be followed by an upsurge of this disease. Tetanus. Eleven cases of tetanus were notified of which six occurred in the metropolitan area. The majority were not immunized ; a very small number had a previous history usually somewhat vague. It is unusual to see a breakthrough of this disease in a fully immunized person provided the course of inoculations or booster doses were administered in recent years. A variety of injuries and circumstances accounted for the initial trauma allowing infection of the wound with this organism in soil, manure, &c. Only one person suffered from the classical injury of standing on a rusty nail ; the majority had minor injuries for example from splinters and thorns while gardening, often too trivial in nature to cause the patient to seek medical attention. One unusual set of circumstances was the occurrence of tetanus following tooth extraction. During the year the Commission reiterated the warning to the public that persons whose occupations or recreations carry a risk of soil contaminated wounds should seek protection by means of prophylactic tetanus toxoid inoculations. Redfin Fish Food Poisoning. Two episodes of food poisoning following consumption of redfin fish came to notice early in 1966. A family of five persons from a Melbourne suburb were the victims—the source of the redfin was traced to the Lake Victoria-Rufus river area of south-western New South Wales. The other incident occurred at the Rufus river where a tourist caught and ate the fish. The Commission has sought the assistance of the New South Wales Fisheries and Game Department in an effort to elucidate the cause of this mysterious illness which has accounted for over 150 known cases of food poisoning. In all cases the incriminated fish were caught only in the locality referred to above.