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14
PART 2
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
There was a considerable decrease in the number of infectious
disease notifications received during the year, 1,880 as compared
with 3,474 in 1965. The decrease accounted for mainly by the
drop in the incidence of measles. The total number of confirmed
notifiable infectious diseases reported, arranged in age groups and
in the areas in which they occurred, are shown in Tables 1 and 2
on pages 19 and 20. A commentary on the notifications is given
below.
Vaccination and immunization against certain infectious diseases
is one of the personal health services available to certain limited
groups of people and a reference to this service will be found on
page 63.
Diphtheria
Once again, no cases of diphtheria have occurred in the Borough
but the occasional incidence of this disease in other areas, including
London, serves to stress the importance of maintaining a high
degree of protection in the community through immunization.
Food Poisoning
Two hundred and ten notified or otherwise reported cases were
investigated during the year. Of these, 186 were found not to be
food poisoning after laboratory examination of faecal specimens
from those affected. Fourteen of the remaining cases were single
unrelated cases, and five involved a total of ten persons.

In addition to the above cases an outbreak involving 125 persons
occurred at a Training Collese in the boroueh. Bacteriological
investigation of a number of those affected indicated the infective
agent as heat-resistant Clostridium welchii and a full report was
submitted to the Ministry of Health.
Measles
A total of 1,341 notifications were received, as compared with
2,795 in 1965. The drop in the number of cases was anticipated,
as measles incidence rises and falls in alternate years. 1966 was
a "non-measles" year.