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In the Ministry of Health's Memorandum on Vaccination against
smallpox, it is recommended that public health officers, likely to have to
deal with cases of smallpox at short notice, should be regularly revaccinated
at not more than yearly intervals. During year thirty
members of the staff of the public health department were vaccinated or
re-vaccinated by the Medical Officer of Health.
Scarlet fever
The number of cases notified in 1957 was thirty-three and, of
this total, six were treated in hospital. There was no fatal
case during the year; in fact, there has been no death from scarlet
fever in Kensington since 1940.
Diphtheria
No case of diphtheria was notified during the year. Only
twice before, in 1952 and in 1954, has this record been achieved.
Diphtheria immunisation work, commenced by the Council in 1934,
was continued by the London County Council during the year. A summary
of the work carried out in Kensington is as follows
Number of pre-school children immunised 1,186
" " school " " 481
" " re-inforcing injections given 1,790
" " children attending for pre-Schick
tests 421
" which gave a positive reaction 321
" " " " negative reaction 77
" of children attending for post-Schick
tests 815
" proving negative 765
" proving positive 23
" who failed to attend for reading 50
Enteric Fever
During the year there were five cases of paratyphoid fever
and none of typhoid fever.
The first case of paratyphoid fever was a boy of 5 years of
age who was the third member of a West Indian family to be involved in
a small outbreak which was mentioned in my Annual Report for last year.
The second and third cases were two baby boys, aged eight and
ten months respectively, living in the same house in North Kensington. It
was quickly established that the mother of one of the children was a
carrier who had first contracted the disease in Wales in 1951 and had
remained a symptomless excretor since. The type of organism was the same
in the carrier as in the two infected children. The patients and the
carrier received treatment in hospital; the organism was eradicated from
the children but the mother remained a carrier. She has since moved from
Kensington and the Medical Officer of Health for her new address has been
informed of the circumstances.
The fourth case involved a young lady aged 20 years who was
admitted to hospital four days after returning from a holiday in Spain.
Her address in Kensington was a hostel, her own home being in Kent. The
patient became seriously ill and died in hospital thirteen days after
admission. Contacts of the patient, including a young lady who
accompanied her to Spain, remained well and submitted specimens for
bacteriological examination which were reported negative.
The fifth case occurred in a young man of 23 years of age who
bad returned from a holiday in Italy a week before admission to hospital.
He remained in hospital less than a week and faecal specimens submitted
there, and at home after discharge, were consistently negative. The