London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1963
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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The following table shows the number of samples of ice cream taken during 1963 for chemical analysis compared with those taken in the previous year:-
| Respiratory | Non-Respiratory | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | M | F | ||
| On register of notifications on 1st January, 1963 | 656 | 531 | 66 | 95 | 1,348 |
| Notified for the first time during the year | 100 | 43 | 3 | 5 | 151 |
| Brought to notice other them by notification | 53 | 40 | — | 4 | 97 |
| Removed from register on account of having - | |||||
| (a) recovered | 32 | 39 | 2 | 2 | 75 |
| (b) removed from district, lost sight of, etc. | 123 | 106 | 4 | 16 | 249 |
| (c) died | 14 | 4 | - | 1 | 19 |
| Remaining on register on 31st December, 1963 | 640 | 465 | 63 | 85 | 1,253 |
The system of investigation into the environmental conditions
of tuberculous patients continued during the year. All newly notified
cases and those cases transferring into Kensington or changing their
address in the borough, have been visited by the public health inspectors
with the object of tracing the source of infection, preventing the
spread of infection and removing conditions favourable to infection.
Particular attention was given to the home conditions in addition to
the dissemination of advice to prevent the transmission of infection
to contacts.
During the year, 2?8 visits were paid to the homes of
tuberculous patients. In 171 of these, the environmental conditions
were such as to require no further action on the part of the Public
Health Department; in a further 55 cases, it was found that the
patients had moved away; and in 37 other cases the investigations
were postponed as the patients were away in hospital or had not been
contacted by the end of the year. The action taken in the remaining
1$ cases is summarised as follows
Action or supervision Cases
Investigation or supervision undertaken in
respect of:-
Prevention of spread of infection 4
Recommended for priority rehousing 2
Action taken under Public Health and
Housing Acts in respect of insanitary
or unhealthy conditions 9
Incidence of tuberculosis amongst Kensington residents who
originated from areas outside England, Scotland and Vales
In my Annual Report for 1951 > attention was drawn to what
appeared to be a disturbing trend in the incidence of tuberculosis
amongst immigrants. Since 1952, a more detailed investigation of
this problem has taken place, and the following table sets out the
information found in 1963:-