Reportable infectious diseases
There are dozens of diseases that must legally be reported to Medway Council. Public Health England has a list of these diseases. These are known as notifiable diseases.
Our Food and Safety team is responsible for investigating the source and controlling the spread of diseases in partnership with Public Health England.
In most cases we need a confirmed diagnosis from a medical practitioner, so people who may be suffering from one of these are advised to contact their GP. If a notifiable disease is confirmed, the results will be notified to Public Health England and certain cases will be passed to the Food and Safety team for investigation.
People working in food-handling environments should always report any food-poisoning illness to their employers. In some cases, such as those working with the following risk groups, they may be asked not to return to work until they have recovered:
- children aged less than 5 who attend nurseries and playgroups
- people with disabilities or special needs
- health care workers who have direct contact with patients or their food.
For general gastrointestinal infections (without a confirmed diagnosis), food handlers should not work with food until at least 48 hours after their symptoms have stopped.
Ebola virus
- Ebola virus (NHS)
- Ebola: clinical management and guidance (UK Health Security Agency).
Swine flu
- Swine flu (H1N1) - symptoms, causes, treatment, pregnancy and prevention (NHS)
- Find a pharmacy - for collecting antibiotics and antivirals prescribed by your GP (NHS).
Rabies
- Rabies - symptoms, causes, diagnosis, emergency treatment and vaccination (NHS)
- Rabies (classical) - about the disease, transmission, prevention and the law (Defra).
Bird flu (diseases affecting animals)
- About the disease (NHS)
- Advice to the public (Defra)
- Advice to poultry keepers (Defra)
- Compensation for poultry (Defra)
- Bird flu: your questions answered (Food Standards Agency).
Bluetongue (diseases affecting animals)
- Bluetongue - latest news, cause, surveillance, legislation, publications (Animal Health Veterinary Laboratories Agency).
Cooling towers
All properties where cooling towers and evaporative condensers are located must register with the council.
The purpose of this is to identify areas that could give rise to spread of infectious diseases (for example, Legionnaires' disease) and to make sure that preventative measures are taken to get rid of the risk of infection.
Notify us of any cooling towers or evaporative condensers on your premises on GOV.UK
You will need to provide us with details of:
- where the notifiable plant is located
- the person in control of the premises
- the number of devices at the premises
- their approximate location.