Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Devine, M.J.
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, M. V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Follow-up of sporadic cases of food-borne infection

comparison of a postal questionnaire with a personal visit

M.J. Devine, MB, MPH, MRCGP, MFPHM

Locum Consultant in Communicable Disease Control Bury and Rochdale Health Authority

L. Lighton

Consultant in Communicable Disease Control West Pennine Health Authority

Mrs V. Johnson

Senior Environmental Health Officer Oldham MBC

The aim of the study was to evaluate the follow-up of sporadic cases of suspected food-borne illness by either a postal questionnaire or a personal visit by environmental health staff. This was achieved by comparing the practice in two authority areas within the West Pennine Health Authority in the north west of England. We included all identified cases of suspected food poisoning, campylobacteriosis, cryptosporidiosis, salmonellosis and dysentery occurring in the district between 1 July and 30 September 1996. The main outcome measures were: (1) the proportion of all cases which were successfully followed-up by each method; (2) the timeliness of follow-ups; (3) qualitative estimation by environmental health staff of the data obtained. Visiting by environmental health staff was successful in obtaining information from 76.3% (106/139) of cases, while the postal questionnaires elicited a 52% (50/96) response rate. We found that 70.5% of visits occurred within one week of notification. Although 69.8% (67/96) of questionnaires were issued within one week of notification, only 16% of replies to the questionnaire were received within this period. The information provided on the returned questionnaires was found by environmental health staff to be generally as useful as that obtained by visiting.

Key Words: Food-borne • poisoning • environmental health • local authority • questionnaire • visit

The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, Vol. 118, No. 3, 176-181 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/146642409811800310
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?