Incompleteness of statutory notification of bacterial gastro-intestinal infection

A study was made of all potentially statutorily notifiable bacterial infections diagnosed in faecal samples submitted from symptomatic patients to a single microbiology laboratory during a six-month period. Salmonella spp, Campylobacter spp or Shigella spp were isolated from 167 patients and 51% of these were formally notified (54% of general practice patients and 47% of hospital patients). Forty-seven percent of cases of food-poisoning (Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp) were notified as were 70% of cases of shigella infections. Notification was made on average 9.4d after sending a specimen to the laboratory. A questionnaire used to ascertain the reasons for non-notification in 80 of 85 cases elicited replies in respect of 78 patients. Four patients infected with Salmonella spp or Campylobacter spp were said not to have been suffering from food-poisoning. A variety of reasons was given for failing to notify the others, the most common were forgetfulness, not receiving the result of the specimen, or believing someone else had made the notification.