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
Wandsworth 1963
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth, Metropolitan Borough]
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16
REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR 1963
Measles
The number of cases notified during the year was 3,427 compared
with 691 in 1962, 4,912 in 1961 and 825 in 1960.
Poliomyelitis
Six cases of this disease were reported and investigated during
the year, compared with 12 in the previous year, but all were
subsequently not confirmed.
The figures of poliomyelitis from 1947 to 1963, the period during which the incidence of the disease in this country has been high, is shown in the following table:
| No. of cases reported as suspected poliomyelitis and investigated | No. of cases confirmed: | Deaths | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 119 | 78 | 4 | |
| 1948 | 31 | 15 | 6 | |
| 1949 | 89 | 58 | 4 | |
| 1950 | 71 | 40 | 7 | |
| (a) | (b) | |||
| paralytic | non-paralytic | |||
| 1951 | 29 | 4 | 7 | — |
| 1952 | 73 | 23 | 16 | 5 |
| 1953 | 73 | 19 | 8 | 2 |
| 1954 | 41 | 5 | 2 | — |
| 1955 | 104 | 22 | 27 | 1 |
| 1956 | 85 | 24 | 15 | 2 |
| 1957 | 147 | 43 | 28 | 4 |
| 1958 | 65 | 11 | 9 | 1 |
| 1959 | 73 | 13 | 4 | 1 |
| 1960 | 31 | 1 | 4 | — |
| 1961 | 33 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 1962 | 12 | 2 | — | — |
| 1963 | 6 | — | — | — |
Meningococcal Infection
Six confirmed cases were notified, one of which proved fatal.
Forty-one other cases were investigated but these were subsequently
not confirmed.
In 1962 there were six confirmed cases with one death.
Acute Encephalitis
No cases occurred during the year.
Typhoid and Paratyphoid Fever
Two confirmed cases of typhoid fever were notified early in
March in the persons of a man and his wife who had been on
holiday in Zermatt, Switzerland, where a major outbreak of typhoid
had occurred, affecting, among others, many holiday makers from
this country.