London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Islington 1968
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington Borough]
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PREVALENCE AND CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS AND OTHER DISEASES
Notifications and deaths recorded during the year 1968
(Infectious diseases are those that were statutorily notifiable as at 31st December, 1968)
| Disease | Number of notifications | Number of deaths | Removed to hospital | Number of Cases returned to Registrar-General after correction of diagnosis | Cases "coming to knowledge" but not notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measles | 660 (1427) | _ | 12 | 660 | _ |
| dysentery | 265 ( 269) | 1 | 25 | 264 | 210 |
| Scarlet Pever | 69 (89) | _ | 3 | 69 | 14 |
| Whooping Cough | 45 (125) | 1 | 8 | 45 | 20 |
| Infective Jaundice | 112 (-) | _ | 21 | 111 | 76 |
| Ac. Meningitis | 8 (-) | 3 | 8 | 7 | 15 |
| Ac. Encephalitis | 4 (2) | _ | 4 | 3 | _ |
| Ophthalmia Neonatorum | 3 (4) | _ | _ | 3 | _ |
| Leptospirosis | 1 (-) | _ | 1 | 1 | _ |
| Paratyphoid Fever * | (8) | _ | _ | 1 | _ |
| Typhoid Fever | 1 (1) | _ | 1 | 1 | _ |
| Pood Poisoning | 53 (90) | _ | 11 | 39 | 25 |
| Tuberculosis -Longs | 125 (141) | 21 | _ | 124 | 19 |
| Tuberculosis -Other Forms | 19 (22) | 4 | _ | 19 | 1 |
* Statutorily notifiable from 15th June. 1968.
** Statutorily notifiable from 1st October, 1968.
(Figures In brackets are notifications for 1967)
SMALLPOX
Of the 31 references for suspected smallpox and supervision of possible smallpox contacts,
27 arrived in this country from declared endeaic or locally infected smallpox areas. They were
reported to be proceeding to addresses in Islington and were not in possession of valid
International Certificates of Vaccination. In accordance with the regulations which came into
force on the 1st August 1963, all were visited and kept under surveillance for the required
period.
Advice was sought from the medical staff of the department in respect of two patients
suffering from rashes of a type where it was desirable to exclude smallpox as a possible
cause. These were subsequently diagnosed as chicken pox.
The regaining two references concerned contacts of a confirmed smallpox case, a Pakistani
boy aged 15 years residing in the City of Westminster. The first was a female Islington resident,
a member of the ambulance crew which took the boy to hospital, the other a Westminster resident
who was employed in an Islington restaurant as a kitchen hand. Both were kept under surveillance
for the requisite period and their medical practitioners informed.
CERTIFICATES OF VACCINATION AND INOCULATION - AUTHENTICATION • MINISTRY OF HEALTH CIRCULAR 60/48
Applications for authentication dealt with by the Medical Officer of Health numbered 3,225
as against 3,047 for the previous year. The applications comprised requests for authentication
of International Certificates of Vaccination and Inoculation against smallpox, yellow fever,
cholera etc., and constituted a substantial item of work.
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