Under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, any registered medical practitioner attending a patient suffering from, or who he suspects is suffering from, a notifiable disease, is required to inform the proper officer of the district council in whose area the patient resides.1 Cholera, plague, relapsing fever, smallpox and typhus are all notifiable diseases in England and Wales.1 Furthermore, a number of additional diseases are 'required to be notified'; these include anthrax, leprosy and tetanus, among many others. Section 25 of the 1984 Act prevents a person who knows that they are suffering from any of these diseases from borrowing or using a book from any public or circulating library, and stops anyone else from allowing such a person to use a library book.1 The sufferer must not return the book, but give notice to the Local authority, which must either disinfect or destroy the volume. If an individual contravenes any of these regulations, they are subject to a fine. These provisions werefirst included in the Public HealthAct Amendment Act 1907 and remain in force today.
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