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76
SMALLPOX
No case of smallpox has been notified to this Department as having
occurred in the Borough since 1928, and there have been no deaths from
this disease for over fifty years.
During the early part of the year, imported cases of smallpox
occurred which resulted in a number of smallpox cases being notified
in various parts of the country. As a result of this a watch was kept
on all travellers entering this country from the Par East. On arrival,
61 such travellers gave Chelsea as their forwarding address but of this
total only 40 could be traced and kept under observation for the
surveillance period. They all remained quite well. The remaining 21
were unable to be found, due in most cases to fictitious addresses and
this does show how easy it can be for an infected person to spread the
disease before they can be finally contacted and kept under surveillance.
POLIOMYELITIS
One notification concerning a Chelsea resident was notified and
confirmed during the year which was of a paralytic type. There were
no deaths from this disease.
During the month of May, oral (Sabin) vaccine was made available
to clinics and general practitioners as well as the original Salk type.
Prom information received it appears that oral vaccine is proving more
popular and if the trend continues it is hoped that the level of immunity
already obtained in the Borough will increase still further.
INTERNATIONAL CERTIFICATES
In order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, certain countries
require visitors to be vaccinated against specified diseases under the
International Sanitary Regulations. International Certificates have been
prescribed for smallpox, yellow fever and cholera. Vaccination against
yellow fever, must, for international and technical reasons, be done only
at specific centres, but vaccination against any other disease, other than
yellow fever, can be done by a person's own doctor. When completed by
the medical practitioner, the certificates must be authenticated by the
Medical Officer of Health.
During the year, 1,976 of these certificates were authenticated in
Chelsea.