View report page

SECTION F — INFECTIOUS ILLNESS.
As was mentioned last year, our notification rates for
Measles, Scarlet Fever, and Whooping Cough are higher than
the figures for England and Wales, for the 126 great towns and
for the Administrative County of London, while our figures for
all other infectious diseases are the lowest in the comparative
table. This is an interesting fact and I think that the answer
is probably to be found not in a real higher incidence of these
infectious diseases but in a higher percentage of notifications, for
the reason that in our area medical advice is sought for these
conditions more frequently and it is indicative rather of a higher
standard of parental care than of any adverse environmental
factors.
Notification. The following diseases are notifiable in the
District: —
Cholera Acute Primary Pneumonia
Cerebro-Spinal Fever Acute Influenzal Pneumonia
Continued Fever Acute Poliomyelitis
Diphtheria (including Acute Polio-Encephalitis
membranous Croup) Puerperal Pyrexia
Dysentery Relapsing Fever
Enteric Fever (including Scarlet Fever
paratyphoid fevers) Smallpox
Erysipelas Trench Fever
Encephalitis Lethargica Typhus Fever
Food Poisoning Tuberculosis (all forms)
Malaria Whooping Cough
Ophthalmia Neonatorum Measles
Plague
Smallpox. There were no cases of Smallpox in our area
during the year. The s.s. "Mooltan" in April provided the only
contacts requiring surveillance. This ship, which had a fatal
case of Smallpox on board, disembarked 10 contacts into our
area. These were kept under surveillance until the expiry of the
incubation period. Subsequently a further group of 5 contacts
had to be kept under observation as a contact from a neighbouring
district developed the disease.
Enteric Fever. There were no notifications of Enteric or
Typhoid Fever during the year, but there was a death assigned
to us in the Registrar General's Transfer Lists. It was a resident
of ours who was taken o2 a ship in the Port of London and
admitted to a Fever Hospital, where she died. The onset appears
45