View report page

Puerperal Pyrexia.
Two cases of puerperal pyrexia were reported during 1956;
both cases recovered with treatment. It is not so long ago since
each case of pueperal pyrexia was regarded as a serious event.
Indeed the death rate from puerperal pyrexia causes was tragically
high only a few years ago. Nowadays, puerperal pyrexia is seldom
due to septic causes, being normally attributable to some inter'
current cause such as influenza, head cold or even constipation.
This is an indication of the revolutionary change which has taken
place within the last decade in the care of mothers during and
after pregnancy. Several factors have contributed to this happy
state—fundamentally advances in midwifery, closer supervision and
liaison between general practitioner, hospital and clinic, and the
introduction of antibiotics. Puerperal sepsis, as against a rise in
temperature during the puerperium (the official description of
"puerperal pyrexia") is seldom encountered. This explains why
the death of a mother during or after childbirth is now regarded
almost as a rarity.
Smallpox.
No case of smallpox occurred during 1956. Once again, I was
not asked to see any doubtful cases within the Borough.
It is once again my pleasure to report that the number of
mothers bringing their infants to child welfare clinics in Southgate
for vaccination, and the number of mothers requesting the same
service from their family doctor, is still increasing. The latest
figures show that the number of children under the age of two
years who have been protected against smallpox by vaccination,
either at clinics or by the family doctor, is now upwards of 80 per
cent. When compared with the tiny percentage which held not so
many years ago, these figures can be allowed to speak for themselves.
Tuberculosis.
Forty-nine cases of tuberculosis (43 pulmonary and 6 nonpulmonary)
were notified during the year, as against 47 in 1955.
Distribution of cases notified among the various wards was as
follows :—
North-east North-west Middle South
15 8 5 21
43