Report of the Commissioner of Public Health / Queensland.

  • Queensland. Department of Public Health
Date:
[1904]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Commissioner of Public Health / Queensland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/16 (page 6)
    purpose of submitting to the Commonwealth Government suggestions as to the provisions to be introduced in a Quarantine Bill, and the taking over of the administration of the quarantine laws from the several States. I had the honour to attend the conference as the delegate of Queensland, and to submit copies of the report of the conference to the Honourable the Premier and to the Honourable the Home Secretary respectively. FOOD. In my last annual report I dwelt at some length upon the duties of the Local Authorities under the Health Act with regard to inspection and examination of foodstuffs exposed for sale within their areas. I regret to state that Part VI. of the Act, regulating the sale and inspection of food, is still a dead letter on the part of the Local Authorities throughout the State. A considerable quantity, comprising some 47 tons, of various foodstuffs was seized and condemned ,, by the officers of the Department of Public Health during the past year. The list of prosecutions under the Health Act included 5 cases for the adulteration of wine, 1 cider, 1 whisky, 4 ginger-wine, 11 cases for the adulteration of soft drinks, 2 for the adulteration of olive oil, and 6 cases of light-weight bread. The fines and costs amounted to the sum of £312 3s. Id. Samples of wine, rum, whisky, cider, water, milk, jam, cream of tartar, tea, and confectionery were examined by Mr. J. Brownlie Henderson, the State Analyst. The majority of the samples of wine were found to be “ sugar-, water, and artificial colouring.” One sample of whisky contained 5.4 per cent, of added water, and a fine of £5 6s. 6d. was inflicted by the magistrate. One sample of wine and one sample of cider were “ entirely fictitious,” and fines of £15 17s. were imposed in each case. DAIRIES. As pointed out in my last annual report, the present staff of dairy inspectors is too small to permit of systematic inspection throughout the State. The proposed Dairy Bill will, no doubt, minimise the difficulty hitherto experienced with regard to the matter of registration. For the year ending 30th June, 1904, 2,999 dairies have been inspected. The sanitary condition of the majority of these dairies can only be improved by legal provisions, which at the present time are non-existent. Cleanliness is the keynote for the production of pure milk and milk products. The health of the cows has been good, and 31,144 cows have been inspected. BACTERIOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. The sum of £59 16s. 6d. has been received during the year in examination fees for “specimens” forwarded by medical practitioners and tuberculin and pleuro virus supplied by the Institute to various persons. All specimens of sputa examined for the tubercle bacillus is now undertaken by the officers of the Institute free of charge, as well as “ specimens ’ of plague, leprosy, and cholera cases. _ During the past year 16,169 specimens were examined and reported upon, as compared with 1,506 specimens in 1900—the year of the inauguration of this particular work of the Department. Of the 316 specimens of sputa examined for tubercule bacilli, 135 were positive. The medical superintendents of both the Dunwich and Dalby Sanatorium^ forwarded a laige number of specimens for examination. By this means information may be derived as to the progress oi otherwise each patient is making in the open-air treatment carried out at the abovenamed institutions. Eight hundred and five specimens of blood submitted for Widal’s Test for Typhoid were examined ; of these 399 were positive, and 406 gave negative reaction. During the year specimens of lymph, blood, pus, and sputum from 64 patients suspected to be suffering from plague were submitted, and in 20 cases the JB. pestis were detected. In addition to the bacterioscopic examination, culture (serum) media and a guinea-pig inoculation were carried out in every case. Diphtheria. For the convenience of the various hospitals and private practitioners, the Institute, on my request, supplied a sterilised cotton-wool plug on a plated wire, enclosed in a plugged test-tube, free of charge. Twenty-six cases of suspected diphtheria were examined, with the result that in only < cases were the Klebs-Loifler bacilli detected. GENERAL. Out of 19 specimens from cases of suspected leprosy 10 were found to contain the characteristic bacillus leprae. . In all the “ positive ” cases the specimens of plague, leprosy, Ac., are kept as a record and for future reference. Mr. Pound, the Government Bacteriologist, states in his annual report that, although there was a demand for pleuro lymph sufficient to inoculate nearly 50,000 head of cattle, very considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining cases of pleuro-pneumonia; consequently only sufficient virus was proemed to inoculate 16,700 head of cattle, which was distributed among the applicants in due course. The officers of the Department of Agriculture and a number of stock-owners forwarded specimens of bovine blood to be examined for presence of the piriplasma of tick fever, the object being to ascertain whether or not such blood is suitable for preventive inoculation purposes. The museum collection has been added to by numerous interesting specimens.