INCOMPLETENESS OF STATUTORY NOTIFICATION OF BACTERIAL GASTROINTESTINAL INFECTION

A study was made of all potentially statutorily notifiable bacterial i nfections diagnosed in faecal samples submitted from symptomatic patie nts to a single microbiology laboratory during a six-month period. Sal monella spp, Campylobacter spp or Shigella spp were isolated from 167 patients and 51% of these were formally notified (54% of general pract ice patients and 47% of hospital patients). Forty-seven percent of cas es of foodpoisoning (Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp) were notif ied as were 70% of cases of shigella infections. Notification was made on average 9.4 d after sending a specimen to the laboratory. A questi onnaire used to ascertain the reasons for non-notification in 80 of 85 cases elicited replies in respect of 78 patients. Four patients infec ted with Salmonella spp or Campylobacter spp were said not to have bee n suffering from foodpoisoning. A variety of reasons was given for fai ling to notify the others, the most common were forgetfulness, not rec eiving the result of the specimen, or believing someone else had made the notification.