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PREVALENCE AND CONTROL OF
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
In the table of infectious diseases set out on page it will be
observed that 1,232 cases were notified during 1953, as against 740
in 1952. This gives an infectious sickness rate for the district of
23.9, as compared with 14.2 in the previous year. The increase is
due entirely to the rise in measles and pertussis (whooping cough)
notifications, to which attention has already been drawn.
Apart from the prevalence of measles and pertussis, the only
other features relating to infectious diseases during the year to
which attention might be drawn, were the decrease in scarlet fever,
66 as against 93 in 1952, and the increase in food poisoning and
dysentery notifications, 58 as against 21. These matters will be
referred to later in this section of the Report.
I would again stress that our concept of epidemiology has
altered materially within recent years. The older infectious diseases
have either very largely disappeared, e.g., diphtheria and typhoid
fever, or are declining; others have completely altered in character.
In addition, we now have to contend with the appearance of new
infectious diseases, notably those caused by the virus family. Foremost
amongst these is, of course, poliomyelitis, although there is
abundant evidence that other virus diseases are beginning to make
themselves felt.
We must also appreciate that epidemiology itself has taken on
a new and much broader outlook. We are no longer concerned
only with infectious illnesses. Our duty must be to survey the whole
field of health and try to remove such conditions as are prejudicial
to health and which encourage both dis-ease and disease. This
means that we must study the cause or causes of such ailments as
diseases of the heart and circulation, cancer and! rheumatism. It is
admittedly difficult to deal with these problems in any one district,
especially a Borough such as Wood Green which is an integral part
of greater London, since the issue is very often national rather than
local. None the less, the new conception of epidemiology must
never be forgotten, since it provides a fruitful field for study and
research.
It will readily be appreciated that housing and factory conditions
together play a notable part in the causation and spread both
of infectious and non-infectious illness in a district such as Wood
Green. Indeed, it is becoming more and more clearly recognised
that industrial medicine, i.e., the study of health problems associated
with industry, can no longer be divorced, even partially divorced
from public health. Many believe that this is a province in which
the Medical Officer of Health and the Public Health Department
as a whole should have greater powers and more close liaison with
specialists in industrial medicine. Now that the personal health services
have gone over to the County Council, it would surely not be
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