No. 12/1929:

THE PUBLIC HEALTH (INFECTIOUS DISEASES) REGULATIONS, 1929.

THE PUBLIC HEALTH (INFECTIOUS DISEASES) REGULATIONS, 1929.

DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH.

WHEREAS I, the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, am empowered by Section 148 of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878, as amended by the Public Health Act, 1896, from time to time to make, alter and revoke regulations, with a view to the treatment of persons affected with any epidemic, endemic or infectious disease, and for preventing the spread of the disease, and to provide for the enforcement and execution of the regulations:

AND WHEREAS Acute Primary Pneumonia, Acute Influenzal Pneumonia, Diphtheria, Enteric Fever, Relapsing Fever, Typhus Fever, Malaria, and Dysentery are epidemic and infectious diseases:

AND WHEREAS by regulations made in pursuance of the above-recited section entitled the Public Health (Ireland) (Pneumonia, Malaria, Dysentery, etc.) Regulations, 199199, provision was made for the notification; prevention and treatment of Acute Primary Pneumonia, Acute Influenzal Pneumonia, Malaria, Dysentery and Trench Fever, and the prevention and treatment of Enteric Fever, Relapsing Fever and Typhus Fever:

AND WHEREAS it is expedient to revoke the said Regulations and to make other provision in place thereof as hereinafter appearing:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919, and of all other powers in that behalf enabling me do by this my Order make the following regulations, that is to say:—

1. (1) In these Regulations, unless the contrary intention appears, the following expressions have the meanings respectively assigned thereto:—

"Sanitary Authority" means, as the case may be, the Council of an Urban District, the Council of a Rural District, a Port Sanitary Authority, a Board of Public Health or a Board of Health and Public Assistance;

"District" means the District of a Sanitary Authority;

"Medical Practitioner" means a person for the time being registered under the Medical Practitioners Act, 1927 ;

"Medical Officer of Health" means—

(a) as respects any District for which a County Medical Officer of Health has been appointed, that Officer; or

(b) as respects any District being a county borough, the Medical Superintendent Officer of Health; or

(c) as respects any District being an Urban or Rural District in the Administrative County of Dublin for which a Medical Superintendent Officer of Health has been appointed, that Officer; or

(d) as respects any District being a Port Sanitary District the Medical Officer of Health of that District; or

(e) in any other case, the Medical Officer of Health of a Dispensary District within which a case or suspected case of infectious disease mentioned in these regulations occurs.

"Occupier" includes a person having the charge, management, or control of a building, or of the part of a building in which the patient is, and in the case of a house the whole of which is let out in separate tenements or in the case of a lodging-house the whole of which is let to lodgers, the person receiving the rent payable by the tenants or lodgers either on his own account or as the agent of another person, and in the case of a ship, vessel, or boat, the master or other person in charge thereof;

"Dysentery" includes amoebic and bacillary dysentery;

"Enteric Fever" includes typhoid and paratyphoid fevers;

"The Regulations of 1919" means the Public Health (Ireland) (Pneumonia, Malaria, Dysentery, etc.) Regulations, 1919;

"The Minister" means the Minister for Local Government and Public Health.

(2) The provisions of these Regulations shall apply to every ship, vessel, boat, tent, van, shed, or similar structure used for human habitation, in like manner as nearly as may be as if it were a building. A ship, vessel, or boat lying in any river, harbour or other water not within the District of any Sanitary Authority shall be deemed for the purposes of these Regulations to be within the District of such Sanitary Authority as may be fixed by the Minister, and where no Sanitary Authority has been fixed, then of the Sanitary Authority of the District which nearest adjoins the place where such ship, vessel or boat is lying.

(3) The Interpretation Act, 1889, applies to the interpretation of these Regulations in like manner as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of the Oireachtas passed before the First day of January, 1924.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the First day of April, One thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine, and shall then and thereafter apply and have effect throughout Saorstát Eireann, and shall be enforced and executed by every Sanitary Authority.

3. The Regulations of 1919 are hereby revoked.

4. The sanitary authority shall forthwith cause notice to be given to all Medical Practitioners resident or practising within the District of the Sanitary Authority of the duties imposed upon them by these Regulations and of the alterations which have been effected by these Regulations in the duties which were imposed upon them by the Regulations of 1919.

5. Subject to the provisions of these Regulations, every Medical Practitioner, as soon as he becomes aware that a person upon whom he is in professional attendance is suffering from Acute Primary Pneumonia, or Acute Influenzal Pneumonia, or Malaria, or Dysentery shall forthwith transmit a notification thereof to the Medical Officer of Health, in the form and containing the particulars set forth in the First Schedule to this Order.

Provided that a Medical Practitioner shall not be required to notify to the Medical Officer of Health a case of Malaria occurring in an institution in which the infection has been induced for therapeutic purposes; but, at least four days before the discharge of the patient from the institution, the medical practitioner under whose charge he has been shall, if he is of opinion that the patient may be regarded as liable to relapses of Malaria, notify the case to the Medical Officer of Health for the area in which the patient proposes to reside, in the form and containing the particulars set forth in the Third Schedule to these Regulations.

6. For the purposes of these Regulations every Sanitary Authority shall provide and maintain a sufficient supply of printed copies of the prescribed Forms of Notification, and shall from time to time when application is made to them, furnish printed copies of the said Forms to every Medical Practitioner practising within the District of the Sanitary Authority.

7. A notification to be transmitted to a Medical Officer of Health in pursuance of these Regulations shall be enclosed in a sealed envelope addressed to that Officer or shall be so folded and addressed to that Officer that the particulars therein contained cannot be observed, and may be transmitted by being delivered to him or by being delivered at his office or residence, or may be sent by prepaid letter post addressed to him at his office or at his residence.

8. (1) The Sanitary Authority shall pay to every Medical Practitioner a fee of two shillings and sixpence for each notification duly made, signed and transmitted by him under these regulations if the case occurs in his private practice, and of one shilling if the case occurs in his practice as Medical Officer of any public body or of any institution.

(2) Every fee shall be paid as soon as practicable after the end of the quarter in which the notification was sent, and the Sanitary Authority shall not require before payment an account of fees claimed under these Regulations.

(3) The said fees shall in each case be deemed to cover all expenses, including the cost of transmission.

(4) The receipt of such fees shall not disqualify the Medical Practitioner for serving as a member of a Sanitary Authority or in any other public office.

9. A Medical Officer of Health on receipt of a notification under these Regulations in relation to a case occurring in a place which is not in his District shall, unless such notification is made under the proviso to Regulation 5 hereof, forthwith forward the notification to the Medical Officer of Health of the District in which the place is situated.

10. Upon the receipt of a notification under these Regulations, or on becoming aware in any other way of a case or suspected case of Acute Primary Pneumonia, or Acute Influenzal Pneumonia, or Malaria or Dysentery, in his District, the Medical Officer of Health, or an officer of the Sanitary Authority acting under the instructions of the Medical Officer of Health, shall make such inquiries and take such steps as are necessary or desirable for investigating the source of infection, for preventing the spread of infection, and for removing conditions favourable to infection, and if no Medical Practitioner is in attendance on the patient, the Medical Officer of Health shall also take such steps as are necessary or desirable for a ascertaining the nature of the case.

11. The duties of a Medical Officer of Health on becoming aware of a case or cases in his Area of (i) Malaria, or (ii) Typhus Fever, or Relapsing Fever, or (iii) Diphtheria or Enteric Fever or Dysentery, shall, in addition to those set forth in Article 10 above, comprise the duties set forth in Parts I, II, and III. of the Second Schedule to this Order respectively.

12. Any expenses incurred by a Medical Officer of Health in carrying out the duties imposed upon him by these Regulations shall be defrayed by the Sanitary Authority of the District in which he is Medical Officer of Health.

13. (1) The Sanitary Authority may provide or contract for the provision of medical and nursing assistance for any person in the District who is suffering from any of the diseases mentioned in Article 10 of these Regulations and is in need of such assistance.

(2) In cases of (i) Malaria, (ii) Typhus Fever or Relapsing Fever, or (iii) Diphtheria or Enteric Fever or Dysentery the Sanitary Authority shall perform the duties imposed on them by Parts I, II, and III. of the Second Schedule to this Order respectively.

14. A person to whom a notice is given by the Sanitary Authority under the provisions contained in the Second Schedule hereto shall observe and perform any instructions lawfully given in such notice.

15. (1) A Sanitary Authority to which this Article applies, may, from time to time, in accordance with the advice of their Medical Officer of Health and shall, if at any time required by the Minister, do all or any of the following things, that is to say:—

(a) purchase and keep a supply of agents for determining susceptibility to diphtheria and for producing immunity from infection therewith and such instruments and equipment as may be necessary in connection therewith;

(b) make arrangements for the administration of the aforesaid agents to persons resident within their district in accordance with a scheme prepared by the Sanitary Authority and approved by the Minister;

(c) hire, for use as clinics, for the foregoing purpose, such rooms and buildings and employ such persons for the conduct thereof as the Sanitary Authority may consider necessary;

(d) supply any medical practitioner employed by the Sanitary Authority or resident within their District with the aforesaid agents on such reasonable terms as the Sanitary Authority may fix.

(2) A Medical Officer of Health shall perform such duties as the Sanitary Authority may assign to him for the purposes of this Article with the approval of the Minister.

(3) This Article shall apply to every Sanitary Authority, being the council of a county borough, or being the Sanitary Authority for a District situate within a county for which a County Medical Officer of Health has been appointed.

16. The provisions of Section 274 of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878 (which relates to compensation for damages sustained by reason of the exercise of the powers of the Act), shall apply to any person who sustains any damage by reason of the exercise of any of the powers of these Regulations in relation to any matter as to which he is not himself in default.

17. Nothing in these Regulations shall be deemed to authorise a Medical Officer of Health or other Officer of any Sanitary Authority to take any of the steps herein mentioned at any institution other than one belonging to the Sanitary Authority, except with the consent of the managers of that institution.

18. Where a patient is an inmate of any building, ship, vessel, boat, tent, van, shed, or similar structure belonging to the State, nothing in these Regulations shall be construed as requiring a notification to be transmitted to a Medical Officer of Health in respect of that patient.

19. These Regulations may be cited as "The Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations, 1929."

FIRST SCHEDULE.

PUBLIC HEALTH (INFECTIOUS DISEASES) REGULATIONS, 1929.

No.........

To the County Medical Officer of Health (or Medical Superintendent Officer of Health) (or Medical Officer of Health),

of.........................................................

(Address),

In accordance with the requirements of Article 5 of the Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations, 1929, I hereby certify and declare that in my opinion,

(a) ............................................................ ......................................................

an inmate of

(b) ............................................................ ......................................................

is suffering from

(c) ............................................................ ........................................................

Age of Patient ............................................................ ...................................................

Sex ............................................................ ...........................................................

Date of onset of disease (or date of first appearance of symptom)

(a) Name in full of person suffering from disease.

(b) No. or name of the house and name of the street or road and parish or place where the person is resident. In the case of a ship, boat, tent, van, shed or other similar structure the name or description of the dwelling and the name of the place where it is situate should be given. The particulars given should be sufficient to enable the address to be promptly found.

(c) Name of disease.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

PART I.

MALARIA.

1. In every case of Malaria occurring in his Area of which the Medical Officer of Health becomes aware, and in which he considers that action is necessary to prevent the spread of infection he shall take all necessary and practicable steps to ensure that the person suffering from Malaria:—

(1) is supplied with efficient mosquito netting,

(2) receives necessary quinine treatment

(3) receives proper advice as to the continuation of quinine treatment in order to prevent relapses, and

(4) receives proper advice as to the precautions to be taken to prevent the spread of infection.

2. On the occurrence within a District of two or more cases in which the infection has, in the opinion of the Medical Officer of Health, been contracted within the District, the Sanitary Authority may, and if required by the Minister shall appoint and pay a Medical Practitioner approved by him who shall—

(1) make systematic visits to houses where Malaria has occurred or where risk of malarial infection arises, and shall offer to examine persons therein who are suspected of being infected with Malaria and shall endeavour to obtain material for microscopic examination in order to determine whether malarial infection is present, and

(2) secure that effective measures are taken to prevent the spread of infection by the administration of quinine, by the use of mosquito netting, and by the destruction of mosquitoes, and otherwise.

3. In every case occurring in his Area of which the Medical Officer of Health becomes aware and in which he has reason to believe that the infection was contracted in Saorstát Eireann (including every case in which the notification relates to a patient in whom the Malaria has been induced for therapeutic purposes), the Medical Officer of Health shall immediately send the name and address of the patient to the Minister.

PART II.

TYPHUS FEVER AND RELAPSING FEVER.

1. In any case of Typhus Fever or Relapsing Fever occurring in his Area of which the Medical Officer of Health becomes aware,

(i) he shall immediately send the name and address of the patient to the Minister;

(ii) if he is satisfied that it is necessary, he shall report accordingly to the Sanitary Authority who may, by notice in writing, require—

(a) that such measures as may be specified in the notice shall be immediately taken to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer of Health to obtain the complete destruction of lice on the person and clothing of every occupant of the building, and to secure the destruction of lice or their products in the building;

(b) the temporary segregation, for a period to be specified in the notice, of other inmates of the building or of other persons recently in contact with the patient until their persons and clothing have been completely freed from lice.

(iii) The notice may be addressed to the head of the family to which the patient belongs, or to any person in charge of or in attendance on the patient, or to any other person in the building of which the patient is an inmate, or the occupier of the building, and also to a person with whom the patient has recently been in contact.

PART III.

ENTERIC FEVER, DIPHTHERIA AND DYSENTERY.

1. (i) In any case of Enteric Fever or Diphtheria or Dysentery occurring in his Area of which the Medical Officer of Health becomes aware, and in connection with which he is of opinion after inquiry that such a course is necessary to prevent the spread of infection, he shall report accordingly to the Sanitary Authority who may by notice in writing require that, until a further notice in writing is given by them revoking the first-mentioned notice on the ground that the risk of infection is removed—

(a) the person specified in the notice shall discontinue any occupation connected with the preparation or handling of food or drink for human consumption;

(b) suitable measures to be specified in the notice shall be taken with respect to cleansing, disinfection, disposal of excreta, destruction of flies, and prevention of contamination of articles of food or drink for human consumption.

(ii) The notice may be addressed to the head of the family to which the patient belongs, or to any person in charge of or in attendance on the patient, or to any other person in the building or place of which the patient is an inmate, or to the occupier of the building or place.

2. (i) If a Medical Officer of Health has grounds for suspecting that any person in his Area who is employed in any trade or business concerned with the preparation or handling of food or drink for human consumption is a carrier of Enteric Fever or Diphtheria or Dysentery infection, he shall report accordingly to the Sanitary Authority, who may give notice in writing to the responsible manager of the trade or business concerned certifying that for the purpose of preventing the spread of the disease they consider it necessary for their Medical Officer of Health or a Medical Officer acting on his behalf to make a medical examination of such suspected person, and the responsible manager and all other persons concerned shall give to the Medical Officer of Health all reasonable assistance in the matter.

(ii) If from the result of any such examination, or from bacteriological or protozoological examination of material obtained at any such examination, or from any other evidence which he may deem sufficient for the purpose, the Medical Officer of Health is of opinion that the specified person is a carrier of Enteric Fever or Diphtheria or Dysentery infection, the Medical Officer of Health shall report to the Sanitary Authority who may give a notice in writing to that effect to the responsible manager and to the suspected person with a view to preventing, during a period to be specified in such notice, the employment of the person to whom the notice relates in the conduct of the trade or business, or in any other trade or business concerned with the preparation or handling of food or drink for human consumption

THIRD SCHEDULE.

THE PUBLIC HEALTH (INFECTIOUS DISEASES) REGULATIONS, 1929.

NOTIFICATION OF MALARIA (INDUCED FOR THERAPEUTIC PURPOSES).

To the County Medical Officer of Health, or Medical Superintendent Officer of Health or Medical Officer of Health............................................................ ...................................

............................................................ ............................................................ ....

of............................................................ ............................................................ .

In accordance with the requirements of Article 5 of the Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations, 1929, I hereby Certify

and Declare that (a) ............................................................ ........................................

who proposes to reside at (b) ............................................................ ............................................................ ...........

............................................................ ............................................................ ....

at present an inmate of (c) ............................................................ .................................

and due for discharge on............................................................ ..........................................

has suffered from Malaria induced for therapeutic purposes; and, in my opinion, may be regarded as liable to be attacked by relapses of this disease.

PARTICULARS:—

Age of Patient......................................................Sex...........................................

Date of induction of the disease............................................................ ..................

Observations (d) ............................................................ .......................................

(Signed)............................................................ ..............

Medical Practitioner.

(a) Name in full of person who has suffered from the disease.

(b) No. or name of the house, and name of the street or road, and parish or place, in which the person proposes to reside. In the case of a ship, boat, tent, van, shed, or other similar structure, the name or description of the dwelling and the name of the place where it is situate should be given. The particulars given should be sufficient to enable the address to be promptly found.

(c) Name and address of institution.

(d) Notes on the clinical course of the disease and the form of treatment (Quinine, &c.) employed.

Given under my Official Seal, this Sixth day of March, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-nine.

(Signed) RISTEARD UA MAOLCHATHA,

Minister for Local Government and Public Health.

NOTICE.—Section 1 (3) and Section 4 (b) of the Public Health Act, 1896, provide that if any person wilfully neglects or refuses to obey or carry out or obstructs the execution of any regulation made under Section 148 of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds, and in the case of a continuing offence to a further penalty not exceeding fifty pounds for every day during which the offence continues.