View report page

TYPHOID FEVER-No case of typhoid fever was notified during the year.
PARATYPHOID FEVER-No notification was received during the year.
DYSENTERY This disease shows great variations in prevalence from year to year
and from place to place During the year, 22 cases were notified, as compared with
131 in 1955
The infection in all cases was of the Sonne type and the illness was mild in
practically every case. The mildness of the illness is such that medical advice
is not always sought, and unless the disease is kept constantly in mind, cases are
likely to be missed. In all cases of diarrhoea in children and on the least sus
picion in adults, a specimen of faeces should be sent for bacteriological investigation,
Only by such vigilance will this disease be kept under some degree of control.
Though the bowel is the usual habitat of dysentery germs, there is little evidence
to implicate contaminated food as the method of transmission. infection seems
to be spread from person to person and contamination of hands the most likely method,
TUBERCULOSIS During the year 62 notifications of pulmonary tuberculosis, and
7 notifications of non-pulmonary tuberculosis were received. Persons continue to
be certified as dying from tuberculosis who have not been notified during life, but
it is hoped that with the improved facilities for diagnosis and treatment now available,
any reluctance to seek investigation and treatment will disappear
The proportion of new notified cases aged 45 years and over has risen here from
25.9 per cent, in 1937-41 to 37,4 per cent in 1952-56 in males, and from 9 1 per cent
to 19.5 per cent in females in the same periods, and it is probably in this older
age group that undetected and untreated pulmonary tuberculosis persists. Early
diagnosis and treatment are essential to prevent the spread of infection

A permanent mass X-ray unit has been established at West Middlesex Hospital and
is open to the public without appointment,
OPTHALMIA NEONATORUM-No case was reported in the Borough
PUERPERAL PYREXIA During the year 69 cases were notified as compared with 49
cases in 1955 A change in the definition of puerperal pyrexia was introduced by
the Puerperal Pyrexia Regulations 1951 No woman died from puerperal or postabortion
sepsis.
MEASLES-The Borough was relatively free of this disease during 1956 - 244
cases as compared with 1,568 in 1955.
WHOOPING COUGH The notifications of whooping cough, 96, were fewer than in
1955. Facilities for immunisation against this disease are available. The condition
is most fatal in young babies, and protection should be provided before the
child is six months old. There is evidence that, with the improvement in the vaccine,
the protection, if not complete, does mitigate the severity of the attack
MALARIA - No case of malaria was notified during the year,
INFLUENZA This disease was not prevalent during the year. It caused 4 deaths
as compared with 4 in 1955, 2 in 1954, and 26 in 1953.
The Medical Research Council is continuing its efforts to find an effective
influenza vaccine.
MUMPS, CHICKEN POX, GERMAN MEASLES - These diseases are not notifiable, but
cases are brought to the notice of the Department through schools, health visitors,
etc. During the year, the following cases were recorded mumps, 58; Chicken pox
324, and German measles. 28. The latter disease has received considerable attention
recently because its occurrence in a mother during the early months of pregnancy may
result in the child being born with a congenital defect.
10