London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1962
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough.
This page requires JavaScript
77
International Certificates
In order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases,
certain countries require that visitors should be vaccinated or
inoculated against specified diseases.
International certificates have been prescribed for smallpox,
yellow fever and cholera. When completed by the medical
practitioner, the certificates must be authenticated by the Medical
Officer of Health.
During the year, 16,938 of these certificates were authenticated
in Kensington, whereas in the past a normal yearly figure has been
between 3,000-3,500. The increase is doubtless due to the public demand
for mass vaccination following the isolated cases of smallpox which had
occurred in various parts of the country. In addition, 48 special
exemption certificates were issued to travellers for use in Europe and
North America.
Notifications
The following tables show (l) the number of cases of
infectious disease notified during the year 1962, with comparative
figures for the previous seven years; (2) the number of notifications
divided into age groups; and (3) the number of cases notified in each
ward of the borough.
TABLE I
| Notifiable disease | Number of cases notified | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | 1961 | 1960 | 1959 | 1958 | 1957 | 1956 | 1955 | |
| Scarlet fever | 15 | 30 | 29 | 54 | 27 | 33 | 45 | 50 |
| Diphtheria (including membranous croup) | - | 1 | - | - | _ | _ | 1 | 2 |
| Enteric fever | 2 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 7 |
| Puerperal pyrexia | 103 | 168 | 138 | 112 | 116 | 123 | 117 | 125 |
| Acute primary pneumonia & acute influenzal pneumonia | 20 | 28 | 16 | 60 | 70 | 75 | 65 | 105 |
| Dysentery | 57 | 97 | 71 | 110 | 117 | 77 | 88 | 99 |
| Erysipelas | 7 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 9 |
| Meningococcal infection | - | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| Malaria | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Acute poliomyelitis: | ||||||||
| Paralytic | 2 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 14 | 10 |
| Non-paralytic | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 20 |
| Acute encephalitis | 1 | - | - | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Tuberculosis (all forms) | 160 | 195 | 164 | 194 | 179 | 208 | 258 | 218 |
| Measles | 269 | 1497 | 457 | 737 | 654 | 982 | 358 | 1425 |
| Ophthalmia neonatorum | 3 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Enteritis1 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 13 |
| Pood poisoning | 18 | 42 | 40 | 65 | 47 | 52 | 63 | 53 |
| Scabies | 18 | 25 | 28 | 42 | 52 | 52 | 40 | 54 |
| Whooping Cough | 22 | 30 | 154 | 83 | 92 | 130 | 236 | 116 |
| TOTALS: | 714 | 2150 | 1138 | 1489 | 1400 | 1781 | 1331 | 2322 |
*Notifiable only in children under the age of 5.
NOTE: Cases of mistaken diagnosis are excluded from the above table.