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Measles
The number of notifications was 1,173 compared with 74 in 1960. This is the
highest number of notifications recorded since the disease was made notifiable by the
Regulations of 1939.
There were no deaths.
Whooping Cough
The notifications numbered 11 in 1961 and there were no deaths. During the
year, 8 children were immunised by General Practitioners and Medical Officers of the
Local Health Authority.
Pneumonia
Only two forms of pneumonia, namely, acute primary and influenzal, are notifiable.
Eight such cases were reported to me during the year.
In the table of deaths, all forms of pneumonia are included in the classification
(No. 23). It will be seen that 52 deaths occurred and of these 46 were persons of 65
years of age and over.
Puerperal Pyrexia
The total number of cases notified during the year was 25, all of which occurred
at the North Middlesex Hospital Annexe in The Bishop's Avenue.
Food Poisoning
Seventeen persons were notified as suffering from food poisoning during the year,
and in addition 4 cases were otherwise ascertained. The causative organism identified
in ten of the cases was salmonella typhimurium and in one case cl. welchii.
Dysentery
Thirteen cases of dysentery were notified and all of these cases were visited,
investigated and the persons concerned advised on how to prevent the spread of this
infection. All cases were due to shigella sonnei. This bacillus one might say is
rampant throughout the country and caused some 20,412 cases nationally in 1961.
Fortunately it is a mild infection as a rule, although the illness can be severe in infants
and in the aged. It tends to become epidemic in schools, hospitals, nurseries or camps.
Its prevention is simple, i.e., the teaching of hand washing in schools and an improvement
in the general standard of hygiene in the home.
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